Dark Phoenix of Konoha
by White Angel of Auralon
Summary: Naruto has a big secret, he isn't the dead last he appears to be. But why would he show that before he is ready to deal with the stones the council loves placing in his way? The Sandaime, having opened his eyes will do his best to make sure that Konoha will retain the Will of Fire. Smart / Strong Naruto
1. Deception

**Hello, now that Captured in her Eyes is finished, I wanted to start a new Naruto story. The story was somewhat inspired by 'One Man Team', but mostly that concerns Naruto's mentality. He won't be an idiot in this story. This story contains Sasuke and Sakura bashing, perhaps it will end after some time and it's mainly Sakura bashing. So who doesn't like that shouldn't read this story. No pairings as of yet.**

**As usual I don't own Naruto and that holds true for the whole story. now I wish you fun reading.**

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**Deception**

A person clad in dark grey was rushing from one shadow of a house to another shadow. Nobody noticed as the person was fast. Nothing could be noticed that would identify the person. Just as it was the intention of said person. If he would be identified there would be massive accusations about him doing something illegal. Which would only result in him getting dragged to the old man again. No, he had other plans tonight. The empty streets of his home village, he used the term home very loosely, were working well for his plans. Finally he reached his hideout. He pressed a stone in a wall and said wall glided aside soundlessly, the wonders of silencing seals, and let him in. As soon as he had walked inside, the wall slid back, pretending nothing of interest could be found there.

The person lit a lantern and now features could be identified. The Person was about one meter and fifty in height, slim, male and wearing dark grey pants that were taped with black bandages at the ankles and a long sleeved grey shirt that was kept in place with grey arm guards. He wore black gloves with dull metal plates on the back. His head was hidden by a hood and a mask that only left his eyes uncovered. Now he pulled of the mask from his lower face and the hood down. Spiky yellow hair was revealed as were three whisker like birthmarks on the boy's cheeks.

He walked down the stairs behind the disguised door and reached a room after five minutes of walking down. He lit the lights and now the whole room was visible. The room was massive. It was rectangular and divided in six parts by shoulder high walls. Only one part was closed up completely, the one on the far left. Four parts were about the same size and two were double their size. He walked over to a wall in one of the smaller parts and took three sealing scrolls out of his pouch on his belt. He unrolled one scroll that was labelled with 'weapons' and began unsealing the contents.

Several shuriken and kunai, one short sword, two katanas, four kodachis, a chain sickle, a container with senbons, two windmill shuriken and four daggers were taken out of the sealing scroll and placed, sorted by kinds, in a shelf where other weapons were stored. The bigger weapons like the swords in various sizes went on the wall next to the shelf. Then the boy walked to another shelf in the neighbouring part, which was loaded with scrolls of different kinds. The single shelves were labelled with the category of the information in the scrolls.

One shelf had a sign for water, one for wind, one for fire, one for earth and one for lightning. Then there were non-elemental, taijutsu, kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, clan techniques, politics and noble families, geography, survival, and strategy. He again unsealed the contents of the second scroll and sorted the scrolls he took out into the respective categories. He would need to look them over later, but now he had other things to do. The last scroll he took out revealed to hold bags that jingled when they were moved. There were coins in them. Other bags rustled, there were bills in them. He stored the money in the bags in a safe next to the shelf with the scrolls.

"A good haul tonight." The boy said to himself. "I really like chunin exams. I always get many new supplies that way."

He went to the part that was on the farthest right side of the room. There was a small bathroom with a shower, a sink, a toilet and a bathtub in the back part and a kitchen in the front part. He turned the shower on and while he waited for the water to get warm he undressed. He tested the water and then stepped under the shower. He enjoyed the warm water for some time before he took the shower foam and cleaned his body. When he had washed it off, he shampooed his hair. Once he was clean, he turned off the water, walked out of the shower and took a towel from a stand. He dried his body and his hair before putting on night clothes. The part opposite the bathroom, the one completely separate from the rest of the room, was a bedroom with furniture he had made himself. He had a wardrobe, a bed, a night table and chest of drawers. The carpet, the blanket, the pillows and the mattress he had bought under a transformation jutsu.

Nobody, not even the old man Hokage knew about this hideout. While it was underground and therefore no natural light got inside, it was safe. A fact no other place in the whole village could claim to be for the boy. The least of all his official residence. Well, if anybody would look for him they would only find a shadow clone of his lying in the bed, pretending to be him. It was a really big stroke of luck that he had the habit of observing the true genin tests of the jonin senseis. Three years ago, when he had been nine, he had watched a strange jonin with spiky silver hair and a face mask like his, who only had one eye unveiled of his whole face, using the jutsu. First he had thought it was the normal clone the academy taught, but it was different as the clone could attack like the original. He had seen the handseal the jonin used and then begun training the jutsu.

Shadow clone jutsu had become his favourite jutsu. First, he could do much more with the support of shadow clones. Second, he had found out after two weeks after finally managing to do the jutsu, that whenever one of his clones dispelled, he and the other clones got the memories of the dispelled clone. It had helped him in his training immensely. The village was completely against him, that much he knew since he was a little boy. There were perhaps a handful of people that didn't hate him outright. He didn't know how often he had been in the hospital because of their hatred. But he had found ways to avoid it. He knew the only way to not be beaten up anymore was getting stronger than the ones who beat him. He didn't care if he hurt them anymore. Those who attacked him were going to pay.

But getting strong didn't happen overnight and he also needed to cover all his bases to not be executed on orders of the council, his biggest enemies in the village. He had found out the reason for their hatred five years ago. He had become smarter after stealing scrolls and books from old, unused storages in the academy. In his mind it wasn't wrong what he did, it was simply to survive in this screwed up village. While the Hokage was one of the few that didn't hate him and protected him, otherwise he was sure he would already be dead; he was too old and tired to do his job properly.

He, Naruto Uzumaki, or rather Namikaze, even if nobody knew he had figured that out, was the container of the Kyubi, the nine tailed fox that had attacked the village on the day he had been born. And for some reason the whole village had been informed about that fact and hated him for the connection with the fox. As if he had chosen to become the container of that demon. But no, they saw him as the fox. Stupid bastards. Even he with his self taught knowledge in sealing knew that he and the fox were two separate entities. One day when he had been cleaning the storage rooms in the Hokage Tower after a prank, his only real way to show his frustration with the village, he had found a box with the kanji for fourth on it. He had freed the box of dust when a badly placed nodachi fell from an upper shelf and nicked his arm. Some of the blood from the wound dropped on the seal that kept the box closed and the seal opened much to Naruto's surprise.

He quickly bandaged the wound on his arm with the already ruined sleeve of his jacket and then opened the box. He found a few personal things the Yondaime had left: a marriage certificate and his own birth certificate which stated that his parents were Minato Namikaze and Kushina Namikaze nee Uzumaki. He had been shocked to find that out, but knew he only would have this one chance to see if his father and mother had left him something. For some reason the Hokage had lied to him that he didn't know who his parents were. He was hurt that the old man had lied to him and decided to not tell him that he knew now. In the box were some documents for bank accounts, he saw that he should have inherited quite a fortune, the deed to a bit of land on the outskirts of Konoha, he would check the place out later he decided, and some pictures of his parents, those he took and hid them on his body. He guessed that if there was still a house left much would be kept there.

Checking out the place had been a really good idea. He found a small house, only the ground floor, first floor and a basement, but it was obvious that the one responsible for the interior had chosen it with love to detail. Finding the house had been difficult as it had been hidden with seals again, no wonder with his dad's reputation as a genius, but after four hours of searching he had found the seal that let him inside. He found a small shelf of jutsus, many notes on sealing with the Uzumaki spiral on them, a book about the Uzumaki clan of Whirlpool Country and one about the Namikaze Clan of Fire Country. By now he had read the two books and knew his clans' histories.

It made him all the more resentful towards Konoha's general population. He should have been treated like royalty. Even if he would have been happy enough to be treated like everybody else. From the book of the Namikaze clan he found out that the daughter of the Nidaime Hokage had married the heir of the Namikaze clan, which made his father the grandson of the Nidaime and himself his great-grandson. The Shodai was his great-granduncle. The only Hokage he wasn't related with was the Sandaime and even the old man treated him like a second grandson.

He was also related to the Shodai's wife, Mito, who had been born an Uzumaki and married Hashirama Senju in a political marriage to strengthen the bonds between Konoha and Uzushio more than the distant relationship between the Senju and the Uzumaki already did. Mito Uzumaki had been his mother's grandaunt. He also had found both his parents' journals which informed him that since Mito, it had always been an Uzumaki who contained the Kyubi. His mother had written how she had come to Konoha to take over for the old Mito. How she hadn't been ostracized for the fox as nobody but the Sandaime and the highest advisors knew of it. Why the hell hadn't they done the same for him? Why let the villagers know that he was a jinchuriki? It made no sense.

He lifted the blanket of his bed and climbed into the bed. He lay down after setting the alarm clock. He looked at the picture of his parents on the nightstand and smiled. He would have to be at the academy the next morning and he didn't want to get too much unwanted attention. While he maintained the image of an idiot, it was simply safer to let the villagers think he wasn't a threat until he was ready to just give them hell; he didn't skip classes unless he was thrown out. It had been the constant attempts on sabotage that had him develop his resentments against the village. If he could only get away, but he knew that wouldn't be allowed and he couldn't escape the ANBU. No, he first needed to get to that level. Let them all underestimate him. As long as the Hokage kept the worst attacks at bay, he would persevere. There hadn't been any serious attacks in five years. Logical as the most vicious attackers had always been the Uchiha.

But with them controlling the Military Police there had been nothing done against them. Officially, if one of the attackers had been caught they had been disciplined, but unofficially he knew that they got away with it. He had been one of the few people to be happy about the Uchiha massacre. In his opinion Itachi Uchiha had done a good deed killing them all. And he himself had also profited. He had already found his current hideout three weeks prior to the Uchiha massacre. It had been a big coincidence. He had run from another mob of drunken villagers when he had been looking for a hiding place in the narrow alley. He had leaned against the stone that activated the mechanism, with the stone being really low in the wall it was no wonder that the place hadn't been found already, and had fallen back into the dark corridor, only for the wall to slide back.

At first he had panicked in the dark, then he had calmed down and lit a match to see where he was. The lantern had been there already and he had lit it to explore the place. The whole underground room had been packed with some creepy things; he had thrown most of them out after getting over his queasy stomach, and many useful things. Some of the things were horrible. Like body parts in glasses with some fluid to preserve them. Thankfully those had been really few. Perhaps ten or so. The other things were much more useful to him. A shelf with some jutsu scrolls, some weapons, medical equipment, medical scrolls, information on poisons and the said poisons in bottles, and some machines he was pretty sure were used for torturing people.

The machines were now stored in the second part of the room on the left side. He stored all the things he didn't really need there, but didn't want to throw away. Who knew when something could be useful, even if he didn't know if he would ever go into T&I. The night after the Uchiha massacre he had sneaked into the empty compound and had looked for any left over scrolls or weapons he could add to his possessions in the secret room. He had found quite a lot of them, even if it could be nowhere near the whole amount of jutsus that the Uchiha had possessed. He had a big sack with him and put them all inside. There was no way he would leave that kind of knowledge behind for the bastard village to profit from when the Uchihas in his opinion had to make up a lot to him. Thankfully no guards were placed around the compound so it was easy to sneak in there. They were all busy with hunting the culprit. In that night he had got twenty seven scrolls with jutsus of all kinds. Most were fire jutsus. He didn't want to risk getting caught by accident and returned to his hideout.

Over the coming weeks he had gone to the Uchiha compound twice more, but the cleaning crews had obviously already collected the remaining good things. Well, he had got a good haul himself and now had a lot of jutsus he could learn.

With the scrolls of the hideout, his stolen scrolls and books from the academy and the Uchiha scrolls he learned a lot about taijutsu, the medical scrolls came in very handy as they explained where a body was most vulnerable, genjutsu, he sucked in that area in the beginning, and ninjutsu. He soon realized that his main problem was chakra control. He had so much chakra and so little control that it messed with his jutsus at the academy. Thankfully there was a scroll that described all known chakra control exercises with the medical scrolls. He was really grateful to have found this place. While the previous owner had to be a creep, he obviously had also been a good shinobi.

Since then Naruto had trained in the secret room, learned how to prevent the villagers overcharging him, mainly by hunting in the woods for meat and fish, collecting edible plants and growing some vegetables on a small field he had started four miles away from the village in a part of the woods no normal ninja came usually along. The civilians didn't leave the main roads if they travelled outside of Konoha so his hidden field was safe. He worked out in peace, he knew the exercises by spying on genin teams which were trained by their jonin senseis, trained his weapon techniques as well as it was possible without a training partner, worked through the chakra control exercises and started on low level ninjutsu.

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It was morning and Naruto got ready for the next day of torture. He hated having to pretend being an idiot. He should be praised as a genius; he knew he could beat all the chunin in the village by now and most of the jonin. The only ones he was not so sure about were the elite jonin, the ANBU and of course the Hokage. He was just twelve after all and while he was strong and had more physical power than all other kids his age, including the boy that imitated Gai Maito, the best taijutsu master of the village, he was limited in what his body could take. He had the advantage that the Kyubi healed his injuries over night, which included his muscles that tore from training. Over the last year he had prepared massively for his chances to get out of the village on missions. It was the last year he would be a civilian. He had played with the idea to graduate early, but his chances were better with his age group. Being the son of the Yondaime Hokage he would have to be able to defend himself against enemies of his father that could recognize him.

After some time he had come to the conclusion that that probably was the reason for the lies of the Hokage. The old man always tried to protect him, but didn't have that much success. The civilian council had too much political power for the old man to control all parts of the village life. And before he wasn't a ninja, he wouldn't be under the Hokage's power. While the Hokage as his official guardian was always included in his punishments for the pranks, mostly the civilian council tried to screw him over there again. And with the ninja part of the council being mostly neglecting him, there was no chance for him to get back at the civilian council right now. Thankfully the graduation exams were in two days. Then he would finally get out of the academy, get a jonin sensei and could start to show his abilities. Well, depending on the jonin, but he normally could trust the old man to not set him up with another demon hater. There were some jonin that would at least treat him neutrally.

He left the room and turned off the lights. He took the lit lantern and walked up to the entrance. There was a spy hole in the wall to let him check if there were any people outside, but nomally the narrow alley was empty. There were after all no house entrances in the alley and it was too narrow to really store things. A few trash cans were at one end, but that was it. He opened the wall and stepped out. He was wearing the orange abomination that the only shop owner that had even sold him clothes had thought appropriate clothes for him. Of course he had been overcharged, but the next night he had taken the things he had paid for with the money that had been demanded from him illegally. He always did this. If one shop owner overcharged him or kicked him out, he took what the shop owner owed him or pranked the shop that kicked him out.

Of course nobody knew about his compensation. The council would have a field day. But as nobody could prove anything and they never found any of the stolen things in his possession, they had no case and the Hokage had refused to let them punish him without proof. Since the day he had learned shadow clones, he had sent a shadow clone to pretend to train on a training ground everyday. His clone pretended to really suck but to never give up. The only true thing about his personality he showed the village was the never-give-up attitude. Everything else was faked.

Naruto reached the academy and sat down in the back of the room, laying his head on the table and trying to get a bit more sleep. Nobody would really mind it. The only teacher that tried to get him to pay attention was Iruka Umino. Naruto knew that Iruka also disliked him for the fox, but the chunin was at least professional enough to not let it influence his work. For that attitude alone Naruto respected Iruka. He didn't like him, but he respected him.

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Naruto woke up again when the class's top Uchiha fangirls, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka had their daily loud entry. Really, all that effort for an emo whose only ambition in life was to kill Itachi. And the bastard wasn't even that strong. Sure, for an academy student he was strong, but with all the help he had been offered by several ninja in the village he should already be chunin by now. He could have graduated two years ago if he had chosen so, but he didn't. Naruto knew that Sasuke wasn't as good a ninja as his older brother had been and would never be. Itachi was a rare genius. Smart and powerful. It didn't happen often that those two traits came together in somebody as young as Itachi had been when he graduated. Genin with seven, Chunin with ten, Jonin with twelve and ANBU captain with thirteen. That was an impressive record.

Sasuke was too obsessed with revenge to reach his full potential; his hatred of Itachi was holding him back. While he trained a lot, he focused on the things his clan had taught him before they were all killed. Which meant, he had a solid understanding of the Uchiha taijutsu style, which depended on the sharingan, which Sasuke didn't have activated yet. He also knew a C-rank fire jutsu, the great fireball jutsu which Naruto knew the Uchihas had really liked using, when they could get away with it also on him, Sasuke was top in his academics, the basic three ninjutsu taught at the academy and with his thrown weapons. But the whole talking about beating Itachi one day lacked his skills in anything outside that knowledge and skill.

He didn't know genjutsu, which even Naruto after thousands of collective hours of chakra control training (that had become so much easier with shadow clones) had been able to learn, didn't have a weapon besides the standard kunai and shuriken he had learned to use in combat, Naruto had chosen to follow the Sandaime's example and learn to use a bo staff and also knew how to use a tanto as a back-up weapon, he knew nothing about seals, a skill Naruto in the ambition to follow in his parents' footsteps had mastered by now, and his usage of other tools was lacking massively.

No, while Sasuke was skilled for a normal ninja of his age he was far from a genius. That title was given away way too easy nowadays. The Hyuga genius Neji of last year, Sasuke of this year, and probably the other years had also had a genius in them. Naruto hadn't really cared about it.

Now the two cat-fighting girls tried to solve the matter who would be allowed to sit next to their crush. What else was new? If they would have looked they would have noticed that there were two seats next to the bastard. And said emo didn't even give them any attention. He just brooded as always.

Finally Iruka arrived and sent both girls to seats away from Sasuke and started with repetition for the exams. Naruto would do what was necessary to pass the test, but not much more. He wanted to score low to be put on the same team as Sasuke, the only one that would be guaranteed to be passed. There was simply no way that the precious Uchiha would be allowed to fail his true genin exam. And to keep him happy he would be assigned a strong jonin that could teach him a lot. Well, with Naruto's perfected espionage skills he would get the same advantages once he got the team to pass. He knew a bit about the jonins that normally took on teams. To pass a test he would only have to know which one he got as a sensei and act accordingly. He even knew what Kakashi Hatake, the strange jonin he had copied the shadow clone jutsu from, wanted from his teams. The man was a great believer in teamwork. Not that hard to achieve, if he got the emo to cooperate to pass.

The jutsu they were repeating today was the transformation. Well, Naruto had his own version which he used to embarrass Iruka. The Sexy jutsu. A real transformation contrary to the normal illusion. Not that anybody knew about this difference. Naruto had created that jutsu to distract pursuers and knock them out. He swore the village was made of over ninety-five percent perverts. Iruka was blown back by a giant nosebleed. Naruto then took the safe option and fled the classroom where nearly all the girls wanted to castrate him for using such a jutsu in their presence. He went to Ichiraku's and ordered seven bowls of ramen. While it was part of his mask, Naruto really liked the ramen at Ichiraku's. He disliked the packed ramen that the stores sold. He just had had too much of it when he was younger. It was the only food he could afford and cook with his limited skills. The ramen at Ichiraku's were better and healthier. He got some of the meat, fish and vegetables his body needed from here. While there was a lot of salt in the broth, with the Kyubi's chakra helping keeping him healthy, there was not much to fear.

He had started hunting and fishing two months after finding the secret room, which gave the fox more nutrients to work with. His vegetable field then added to his diet once his efforts to grow vegetables bore fruit. Naruto learned how to live of the land. With the mild climate in Fire Country he didn't have to fear about massively cold weather that would make it impossible to grow things. He also collected nuts and fruits from the trees and bushes in the forest to add to his diet. It showed in him finally having a growth spurt. When he had started at the academy he had been one of the smallest children in class. Once he turned nine he was one of the tallest. Understandable when he saw the pictures of his father. Minato Namikaze had been tall.

While getting fresh milk and eggs had been a bit of a problem in the beginning, once he had mastered the transformation jutsu that problem had been solved. He went to buy the things he needed and couldn't hunt or grow in disguise and got them without a problem. He didn't buy everything he needed because he didn't want to give the people that hated him his money. He could do better things with them, like waiting for the merchant caravan that came to Konoha twice a year and buy the things he wanted from them. He had bought his new outfit, one that he would use once he became a ninja, during their last visit. In one week and two days, the day when the teams were assigned he would present it the first time.

Finally it was the day of the graduation exams. Naruto answered just enough questions correctly to pass this part and not get in trouble if he didn't do too well on the ninjutsu part. He didn't know how the teachers would take his clone jutsu. Weapon throwing and taijutsu he did average in, it was okay for him to beat a student from a civilian family with his street brawler style. He wouldn't reveal that he was proficient in both the Uzumaki and the Namikaze taijutsu styles. That would wait until he was sure nobody could screw him over anymore. Then it was time for the last part. Iruka announced that they would have to show the clone jutsu. Naruto sighed. This was definitely another attempt of the council to screw him over. It was well-known that he was lousy at this jutsu. But with all his control training he would be able to deceive them.

He went into the room where Iruka and Mizuki were waiting to test him on the jutsu. Naruto, who wanted to graduate, concentrated hard to reduce the amount of chakra he used to the least possible amount he could manage.

"Clone jutsu." He shouted and a cloud of smoke appeared.

When the smoke cleared, there were twenty Naruto's that could just be called proper clones. The coloration was a little bit too weak, but they were workable clones. Naruto breathed out in relief. Iruka would accept this, even if it wasn't perfect.

"Well, that's a surprise Naruto. There was no need to make so many clones." Iruka said surprised that Naruto had managed to do the jutsu. He had never got it down before.

"Well, Iruka sensei. I trained really hard for this jutsu and somehow this is the least possible amount of clones I can make and it is still really hard." Naruto said rubbing his head embarrassedly.

'Damn that demon brat. This is an acceptable result. Iruka will pass him now and I can forget my plan to use him to steal the scroll. I was sure he would fail.' Mizuki mentally ranted.

"Hm, you definitely improved a lot. You pass, Naruto, even if you should still continue to work on this jutsu until you can make your clones perfect. They need a little bit more colour." Iruka commented and held out a headband.

"Will do, Iruka sensei, thanks." Naruto said, not even faking his happiness for graduating.

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**That's it for the first chapter. Please tell me how you like the story.**


	2. Secrets Revealed

**Hello, here is chapter 2. Thanks to those that left reviews. I hope the new chapter will be to your liking too.**

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**Secrets Revealed**

During the night Naruto was out to see if some stupid clan had thrown away old scrolls again. Really, for all the talks about keeping clan jutsus a secret, they were pretty lax with the scrolls that had their secret jutsu and sometimes training techniques in them. Whenever the scrolls got too old to be used anymore the clans had somebody copy the content of the scrolls and then threw away the old ones. Instead of burning them directly, they threw them into the trash. Naruto, ever the opportunist, regularly searched the trashcans the day before the trash was collected and destroyed. That was the day the clans threw away those scrolls. Over the years since he had started to do this to even out the advantage the clan ninjas had on him, he had collected quite a lot of scrolls. Naruto now knew perfectly how to fight members of all clans in Konoha. He even could use the gentle fist. It was fairly easy with his vast knowledge of anatomy.

While he couldn't see the chakra network without the byakugan, a chakra strike to a vital organ or a muscle was still fatal for an opponent. And it added to his unpredictable taijutsu. After all, nobody would expect a Non-Hyuga to know gentle fist. But before he could do his little raid, he got suspicious of a figure that left the Hokage Tower with a big scroll on his back. He decided to investigate. He made a shadow clone to continue his trash raid; there was no reason to not do both after all. He stayed in the shadows, his chakra suppressed to not alert the man he followed to his presence. Once he reached a clearing in the forest, the man stopped to gather his breath.

"That went well. It would have been better if I could have blamed the demon brat, but with the brat passing the exams that plan got blown up." He mumbled.

Naruto recognized the voice as the one of Mizuki, his teacher at the academy. So he had planned to trick him into stealing the scroll he had with him. It had to be important that he would risk the theft from the Hokage Tower. Naruto sneaked closer and positioned himself over Mizuki, ready to take him out.

* * *

While Naruto was tailing Mizuki the Hokage noticed that the Forbidden Scroll had been stolen and raised the alarm. Many were accusing Naruto, but an ANBU informed them that Naruto was sleeping in his bed at home. The Hokage sent his ninja out to find the thief and bring back the scroll.

Iruka who had taken to search in the forest west of Konoha was really surprised to find Mizuki with the scroll. Never would he have thought his old friend would do something like this. Iruka didn't notice Naruto in the tree.

"Mizuki, what are you doing?" He shouted enraged.

"Oh, look who found me, Iruka. What does it look like? I am taking the scroll to become more powerful than I could ever become in this shitty village. Once I have learned the jutsus in it, I will be invincible. Nobody will be able to stop me and I will then sell it to the highest bidder." He said. "Sadly I can't have you tell my little secret, so you sadly have to die."

Mizuki attacked Iruka with a windmill shuriken, which Iruka managed to dodge. The two started on taijutsu, where Iruka was definitely at a disadvantage.

"Oh, didn't the good little teacher keep up with his taijutsu training well enough?" Mizuki mocked Iruka when he kicked him in the rips and against a tree.

Then he threw the next windmill shuriken at Iruka, who couldn't get up fast enough. But before the shuriken could hit, it was intercepted by a dark figure. Naruto had seen and heard enough to decide he wanted to thwart Mizuki's plans. And with his disguise there was no risk of being identified. Mizuki was shocked to see his attack didn't hit.

"Who the hell are you? What do you want?" He yelled at Naruto.

"I hate traitors with a passion. That's all." Naruto said and threw the windmill shuriken he had caught before it could hit Iruka back at Mizuki with a lot more speed than it had had before. Mizuki dodged the weapon.

"Hah, you missed." He mocked only to be hit from behind and feel the pain from being pierced by his own weapon.

"No, I didn't." Naruto calmly said, holding the end of a thread of ninja wire in his hand, which he had quickly tied to the windmill shuriken and therefore been able to pull the weapon back on a new course.

He took out a senbon covered in a paralysing poison and hit Mizuki in the neck with it. He passed out soon after from the blood loss. Iruka managed to get up, only holding his side a bit.

"Thank you for the help." He said. "You saved my life."

"You're welcome. I think it would be best to get the scroll back to the Hokage. Can you walk on your own?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I think so. Only a few bruises, nothing serious." He said. "By the way, who are you; I don't think I have seen you in the village before."

"That's a secret. If you want to have a name, you can call me Dark Phoenix. That's my codename." Naruto said.

He had decided long ago that he would use that codename if he ever was seen. It was his best shot to be left alone if nobody knew what he could do. Dark Phoenix would be thought of as a secret operative of the Hokage and nobody would make the connection to Naruto Uzumaki, the demon brat.

"Oh, I understand." Iruka said.

In a ninja village people with codenames were nothing special. Hell, the ANBU only operated that way. While Dark Phoenix seemed to be really young, there had been others that strong at his age. Naruto bound Mizuki with wire and asked Iruka if he could carry him as he had the height advantage.

They walked back to the village not being in a hurry after the culprit was caught and knocked out. And it would be easier on Iruka's bruises. Iruka was carrying Mizuki's knocked out body and Naruto had the scroll. When Iruka was briefly looking in another direction, Naruto quickly switched places with a previously made shadow clone. There was no chance he would pass the opportunity to copy the jutsus from the scroll. It wouldn't take long. Because of his sealing training Naruto could write really fast. Just when they were getting to the edge of the forest, Naruto switched back. Nobody would ever know that he now had the forbidden jutsus of the village.

* * *

The Hokage was really surprised to see an unknown ninja and Iruka Umino bringing back the scroll and having a knocked out and bound Mizuki Touji with them. The masked ninja walked over to him and handed him the forbidden scroll back. Then Iruka started to tell what had happened.

"Hokage Sama, I caught up with the thief, Mizuki in the west forest and after he told me he had stolen the scroll to learn the forbidden jutsus and sell the scroll to the highest bidder; once he had done that I attacked him. Over the fight Mizuki managed to beat me in taijutsu and I was kicked back into a tree. Mizuki didn't waste time to throw another windmill shuriken at me while I was down. I was sure that that would be my end when Dark Phoenix appeared and intercepted the windmill shuriken Mizuki threw at me. He then threw the windmill shuriken back at Mizuki but he dodged. Mizuki gloated about having been missed, but Dark Phoenix had tied ninja wire to the shuriken and pulled it back where it hit Mizuki in the back. After that he was knocked out by a senbon that was obviously covered in some poison. He bound him with more ninja wire and we came back here." Iruka reported.

The Hokage was confused. He didn't have a ninja that went by the codename Dark Phoenix. But the boy was obviously strong and on their side. The scroll he had been given back was the original. So the boy didn't intend to steal it. Curious. He would have to ask the boy once they were alone.

"Thank you for the report and bringing back the forbidden scroll, Iruka. That was good work. I think it would be best if you went to the hospital and let them check you if there was anything worse than bruises done. I need you ready for duty." The Hokage said.

Iruka bowed and left the room. The Hokage now turned his look to the boy.

"I would really like to know who you are. I don't know any ninja in my ranks with the codename Dark Phoenix." The Hokage said sternly.

"If you would send your ANBU guards out of the room Hokage Sama, I will tell you. I don't want my identity be known to anybody but you." Naruto said politely.

"Why would I send my guards out for this if you could try to attack me?" The Hokage asked.

"I may be strong, but I am sure you could take me out without problem, Hokage Sama. The only thing I require is a bit of privacy as I am about to reveal two S rank secrets of the village." Naruto said.

The Hokage concentrated his senses on the boy. He felt his chakra being suppressed, so there was no way to get any clues about the boy's identity. What kind of village secrets could the boy know? Well, if he wanted to find out, he would have to take the risk. It was really small after all. He didn't become Hokage while being weak. He gave his guards the sign to leave the office. Once they were out of the office, he activated the privacy seals.

"So, now we are completely undisturbed. Now tell me who you are." He ordered.

Naruto raised his hands slowly to not have the old man attack him and pulled down his lower face mask and his hood.

"My name is Naruto Namikaze, third jinchuriki of the Kyubi." He said seriously.

To say the Hokage was shocked was an understatement. He had never even suspected that Naruto could know about those two things.

"Naruto? Is that really you?" He asked.

"Yes, old man. And if I hadn't figured out by now that having me use my Dad's name would have got his enemies after me I would be really pissed with you for lying to me whenever I asked one or both of the two questions I had all my life. Who my parents were and why the villagers all hate me." Naruto stated while clearly showing his displeasure to the Hokage.

"How do you know that? Who told you?" The Hokage asked, furious that somebody would have broken his law.

"Well, I found out about the fox shortly before the Uchiha massacre. If I see Itachi I will have to thank him for getting rid of my most brutal tormentors. They once caught me and beat me up in a lonely alley. When they left me there bloody and probably thinking that I was unconscious, they talked about how I deserved that because I was the Kyubi container and should just die. They only didn't kill me directly because you would have found out and taken measures. About my parents I found out when I had to clean your storage room after that prank against the grocer in the north part of the village. I accidentally spilled blood on the seal that was keeping the box with the kanji for 'Fourth' on it closed. I looked into the box after the seal opened and found my parents' marriage certificate and my birth certificate. I found out about the location of their house and went there. Well, you can guess the rest of the information I told you, like that I am the third jinchuriki for the fox when I say that I found both their diaries." Naruto explained.

The Hokage looked sad. He hadn't wanted to burden Naruto with the knowledge of the fox at such a young age.

"You said you figured out my reason for keeping your heritage a secret. How comes you didn't do better at the academy then? From the reports I got, you just passed the exams. Congratulations for that by the way." The Hokage wanted to know.

"Thanks, but think about it. What do the villagers fear more? A stupid and weak demon or a smart and powerful one? It was simply self-preservation. I am way stronger and smarter than everybody thinks." Naruto said.

"How strong?" The Hokage asked. "And how did you manage to keep all the training you must have done a secret? I only saw you training some times in the training grounds and then you didn't give the impression of being strong."

"That was my shadow clone, old man. I learned that jutsu by watching Kakashi Hatake test his team when I was nine. He had them fight against his clone in the true genin test. I had memorized the handseal and tried to learn that jutsu as it looked really useful, way better than the clone we learn at the academy, which I still have problems with even after thousands of hours of chakra control training." Naruto admitted. "That damn jutsu just uses too little chakra."

"You can do shadow clone jutsu? You know that it is a forbidden jutsu?" He asked.

"No, I didn't until now. I never had any problems except in the beginning when I dispelled too many clones after training at once. That was a terrible headache I got."

"You use your clones for training?" The Hokage asked interested.

"Sure. It's the best training method there is. At least for me. I can make a thousand clones without ending winded. And with the memory transfer after they dispel they were perfect for me to gain skills, experience and knowledge." Naruto said shrugging his shoulders.

"But why didn't you tell me?" The Hokage asked.

"I couldn't. If the council had any idea that I was getting strong on my own, they would have tried to stop me. I needed all the time I could get to get strong enough to just flip them the bird once I graduated. You know how they treat me. If I had shown my true skills I would have been able to graduate earlier, that much I know you'd have done for me, but what then? A genin still isn't strong enough to be safe from a bunch of determined civilians, especially not if the council would try to make everything I did look like the fox did it. And there would have been the possibility of a jonin just failing the team I was on under the pretence of us not having the necessary skills. Then it would have been back to the academy, under the control of the civilian council.

"And then they would have known that I was stronger than they 'allowed' me to become and would have sabotaged me more. No, I needed to have at least high level chunin skills to be sure to pass the real genin test for sure or you then having a reason to keep me in the active duty roster even if the jonin on my team failed me out of hatred for the fox. While I haven't been beaten up since the Uchiha massacre, the civilians do all they can to screw me over. Shops overcharge me or just deny me service, parents tell lies about me to their children, teachers sabotage my education and the hospital staff only treats me if you force them to. Hell, the only place I can go to eat is Ichiraku's. And I can't live from ramen alone, even if I pretended to do so. Thankfully I don't get the food a clone eats. Alone thinking about eating so much ramen makes me sick. I hate cup ramen by the way. I only like the ramen at Ichiraku's.

"Do you really wonder that I couldn't trust anybody until I was out of the influence of the civilian council? Now that I have graduated and am a ninja, I am under your jurisdiction and you are one of the few people that don't hate me." Naruto explained.

The Hokage understood. He had tried to help Naruto, but he was right. With the council having stolen much of the Hokage's power in the short time between Minato's death and his reinstallation, there wasn't much he could have done for the boy without being accused of favouritism and pushed out of the position of Hokage, leaving Naruto without protection. When Naruto had been found next to the bodies of his dead mother and dieing father, Minato had only managed to get his final wish out that Naruto should be treated like the hero he was for keeping the fox imprisoned. He hadn't told the villagers about Naruto's status, but it had somehow got out. His law came too late and the villagers were shouting for Naruto's death.

"You said you know about the true genin test?" The Hokage asked looking over his intertwined hands.

"Yes, my knowledge was also part of the reason I got results to just pass, at the bottom of my class. The only genin-to-be that is guaranteed to pass is Sasuke. The council will never allow for their precious Last Uchiha to fail and order whoever will be his jonin sensei to pass his team. That is the only possibility for me to surely pass. I know that Ino, Shikamaru and Choji will be put on a team as the three clans have had a bond over generations and are always on the same team if three of them are in the same graduation class. The next clan heirs are Hinata, Kiba and Shino. A classical tracking team, therefore they would normally be put in one team. Those six are the only ones in my class that also have the skill to pass the genin test for sure if they get fair senseis.

"So if I wanted to truly get out of the civilian council's jurisdiction I needed to get on a team that was sure to pass, aka Sasuke's team. I hate the bastard, but I can push my feelings aside if it means you are the only one who can give me orders. To be honest, if I hadn't been sure that I would have been hunted down and brought back by the ANBU I would have run away years ago. While I like you, with a whole village hating me that was not a difficult decision."

The Hokage seriously needed to make plans to get Naruto to stay in the village even after he would one day die. He was an old man. He knew that he would probably die before Naruto turned eighteen. He could understand the boy. He really could. But it was also important for the village to keep the Kyubi there. And Naruto with his heritage shouldn't even think about leaving the village. This was all so screwed up. He had hoped that once the immediate grief for the fallen was over that people would get back to common sense. Sadly the civilian council never accepted it.

"I see. As you know your heritage, what do you intend to do?" He asked.

"I will keep it secret until the next chunin exams. By the way, why did Konoha get to host them two times in a row?" Naruto asked. That question had bothered him for a while.

"I won't ask how you know that they had been in Konoha last time and will be next time in six months. We would normally only have hosted the next exams. It was Kusa's turn originally, but their village couldn't get the premises ready in time and then their leader fell ill. So they asked Konoha to take over as we have the possibilities to organize them quickly." The Hokage answered.

"Ah, I see. That makes sense. And even if you didn't ask, I will answer how I knew. I just noticed all the foreign shinobi in the village. The only reason for that amount was that we hosted the chunin exams." Naruto explained.

The Hokage nodded. That was logical.

"I have a request by the way. Can you make sure that my team is assigned a sensei that isn't a demon hater? To ask for someone that likes me would be too much to ask, but having at least a sensei that would treat me neutrally would be a huge improvement to the teachers at the academy. With the exception of Iruka sensei. While I know he doesn't like me, he was professional about things and taught me the same like everybody else. I can live with that." Naruto asked.

"I will see what I can do. What I would like to know how you came up with the codename Dark Phoenix." The Hokage asked.

"Well, a phoenix is a mythical bird that doesn't really die, but is always reborn from the ashes. Phoenixes are associated with the light and pureness. A dark phoenix also is reborn from the ashes when it dies, but it is not the same bird. It is more like a reincarnation instead of the rebirth of the same bird with the same character. I can't be pure, the village made sure of it, but I will not just die. I will rise from the ashes again and again and nothing they throw at me will keep me down." Naruto stated.

The Hokage nodded.

"I think we still didn't settle the matter of your level of strength. What do you think where you would rank?" The Hokage asked.

"Low to middle jonin level on a pure skill level. I only miss the body for taking on high level jonin. That will have to wait until I get older. I have seen pictures of Dad. I should normally get a similar stature like him when I grow up." Naruto replied.

"Are you sure about that?" The Hokage asked shocked.

"Yes, I have a repertoire of over a hundred ninjutsu, ten genjutsu, which were a pain in the ass to learn by the way, damned fox messing with my control, am proficient in both my clans' taijutsu styles, I can use a bo staff and a tanto really well and know how to use most weapons at least a bit if I ever need to. I am a fuinjutsu master and a poisons and anatomy expert. I guess that should be more than enough to qualify for jonin level strength. The only thing I lack is experience. That's why I said I was low to middle jonin level on pure skill levels. I wouldn't last in a real fight aginast a jonin yet if my opponent didn't massively underestimated me. I couldn't do any missions after all or I would have been discovered." Naruto listed.

"Fuinjutsu master? I guess I shouldn't be surprised considering that both your parents were masters in fuinjutsu and it was the specialty of the Uzumaki clan before they were killed in the third war. I would like to test your skill level though. Probably the best way to do it would be if you fought against one of my jonin in your disguise." He pondered.

"That would be okay, but I only want to reveal my skills to the whole village during the chunin exams. I want them to see who they treated like shit. With all the nobles and important clients present they can't risk being seen as the scum they are." Naruto stated.

"Okay, be at training ground sixty one tomorrow morning at ten. I will be there with the jonin I have in mind to test your skills." The Hokage said, more than a little bit worried about the obvious loathing Naruto held for the majority of Konoha.

"Okay, old man, good night." Naruto said and put his mask and hood back on.

"Good night, Naruto and this was really good work. You will be paid for your help in catching Mizuki." The Hokage added.

"Thanks, I can use the money." Naruto said and left the office.

* * *

**And done. What do you think? Till next time.**


	3. Skills Test

**Hi, missed me? Thanks for those revies, over thirty in just two chapters is a really good result. I'm happy you like the idea. Now happy reading to all of you.**

* * *

**Skills Test**

Naruto stood in his disguise at training ground sixty one and was looking around. He was early by fifteen minutes to have a look around. The training ground had been guarded by two chunin, which meant it was special. Only the ANBU and Hokage training grounds were guarded. Naruto hadn't cared about the guarded training grounds before. The only one he had been interested in besides the open ones that were farthest away from the village had been training ground forty-four, better known as the Forest of Death. After each chunin exam he had sneaked in there to see if he could find things that would help with his training like weapons that were still usable, scrolls and money. He reasoned the dead didn't need them anymore.

In the beginning he had felt slightly sick at doing it, but with the animosity he was shown by the villagers he needed some source of weapons and those would only rust if they were left there for too long. So he had started when he was nine to go into the Forest of Death when the second part of the chunin exams was over. He had found out that it took at least three days before the cleaning crews went through the forest to get the remaining corpses. He guessed they had too much to do with organizational things. So he normally spammed the forest with his clones to find those that had died or other left over weapons. Mostly they were perfectly workable still, some needed sharpening, but that was no problem. In five hours he normally was finished and had collected all the usable things. The only problem in the beginning had been the transport. He couldn't use sealing scrolls in the beginning. That had been the starting point in finding a way to easier transport weapons in the future.

He had found in one of the books at the academy that there were sealing scrolls but he knew he couldn't get one for him because the shop keepers would never sell him one. So he needed to learn how to make one himself. It took him three months to find the necessary books about sealing and then training that specific seal but he did it. One and a half years later, when the chunin exams were in Konoha again, he had the equipment and skill to seal weapons on site. His most prized find was a chakra conductive tanto. Those weapons that could channel chakra were really expensive and rare.

At ten the Hokage came in company of a medic nin and nodded at Naruto.

"Good morning, Dark Phoenix. Good to see you are on time. I have organized for one of my elite jonin to test your skills. He should be here in ten minutes. This is Arata, he will be on standby to heal you and your opponent if necessary." The Hokage explained.

"Good morning, Hokage Sama." Naruto answered with a bow, keeping up his disguise. "That will be great. Who will be testing me?" He asked.

"My son Asuma Sarutobi." The Hokage answered.

Naruto nodded. He knew Asuma from some of his visits to the Hokage. While the bearded jonin had been out of the village for some time to protect the Fire Daimyo as one of the twelve ninja guardians, he had returned some years ago and become a normal jonin for the village.

He waited with the Hokage and nine minutes later Asuma arrived.

"Good morning, Dad. Why did you call me here?" Asuma greeted.

"Good morning, Asuma. Thank you for coming. You are here to assess the skill level of Dark Phoenix here. I have an overall idea what he can do, but there is nothing better than a fight to see what he can do in a real situation. From our estimation he should be around high chunin to low jonin level." The Hokage informed his son.

"Dark Phoenix, never heard of him." He said, observing the boy. "He doesn't seem too old." He said.

"No, he isn't. He has trained in secret to not gain unwanted attention of different fractions in the village." The Hokage said meaningfully.

Asuma assumed he was talking about ROOT and the council that liked to manipulate young talented ninjas to their liking.

"Okay, what kind of test do you want to have? An all out fight or going by disciplines?" Asuma asked.

"I think we should go by disciplines. Is that okay with you, Dark Phoenix?" The Hokage asked.

"Of course, Hokage Sama." Naruto answered. "With which part should we start?"

"I think I would like to see how you work with weapons first. Asuma himself is a skilled weapon user, so that would be a good starting point."

Naruto nodded and unsealed both his tanto and his bo staff. The tanto went on his shoulder and the staff stayed in his hand. Asuma took out his knuckle knives. They watched each other, assessing the stance of their opponent. Then Naruto sprang into action and raced at Asuma. The Hokage was surprised by the speed Naruto showed. That was definitely jonin level speed. The only jonins to be faster would probably be Gai and Kakashi. Asuma was ready and blocked the strikes of the bo staff with his knives and fought back. Both weapons clashed time and again. Naruto tried to swipe Asuma's legs with his staff, but he jumped over it without problem. Both opponents evaded and blocked each others attacks for five more minutes before jumping apart.

"You're definitely good kid, but let's take this up a notch." Asuma said and channelled wind chakra into his blades.

Naruto, knowing that his staff wouldn't hold against wind enhanced blades, quickly put his staff away and drew his tanto. He channelled his own wind chakra into it.

"So you are a wind element too. Interesting. Let's see how far you have come." Asuma said and attacked.

Tanto and knuckle blades crashed and the more experienced jonin managed to get a cut on Naruto's arm. Naruto returned the favour by spinning around his axis, disconnecting their weapons and nicking Asuma's pants.

"Not a bad counter to my attack." Asuma commented.

This kid was really good. Judging by his height and stature the boy was about twelve to fourteen. To be that good with two different weapons and being able to manipulate wind chakra was really something.

Naruto returned with a new attack but was forced back by the stronger Asuma over the next minutes. Finally Asuma managed to disarm Naruto and crossed his blades close over his throat.

"My win." Asuma said and stepped back.

Naruto nodded. He hadn't expected to be able to defeat an elite jonin in one of his strongest disciplines, but he had held out better than he thought he would.

"That was an impressive start. Next would be taijutsu." The Hokage said.

Asuma nodded and put his knives back in his hip pouch. He took his stance and saw that the boy was in a stance he didn't know and hadn't seen around the village before. He couldn't know that Naruto was in the opening stance of the Namikaze style, the cheetah style. The style was based on speed and fast attacks to vital points. It wasn't made for long exchanges like the animal it was named after. After Naruto had read all the anatomy scrolls in the secret room, he could utilize the style really well. And with his bastardised version of gentle fist and chakra scalpels mixed into the style it was deadly if Naruto wanted it to be.

This time Asuma attacked first, but Naruto dodged his kick and went around him in a split second and tried to attack the spine. Asuma though was too experienced and jumped to the side. Naruto followed him and looked for openings in Asuma's guard. His smaller stature now was an advantage for him as he could use openings easier as a bigger opponent. He brought in some painful hits to Asuma's biceps and upper thigh. Asuma was too good to let him hit vital spots after feeling what a hit did to his muscles.

Naruto didn't let Asuma rest and used his superior speed to disable more points, which got more difficult as Asuma tried to stay out of his reach. Finally Naruto managed to cut a whole muscle in Asuma's left leg, which made him fall to his knees. Naruto came up and pointed his glowing hand to Asuma's spine.

"My win." He said and then stepped back.

The Hokage was impressed. That was an impressive show of taijutsu skill. And that speed reminded him a lot of Minato. But Naruto seemed even better than his father at the same age. And how did he manage to get Asuma's muscles hurt? That looked like gentle fist, but Naruto couldn't know it. The Hyuga kept those secrets within their clan.

"Very good, Dark Phoenix. The next thing would be genjutsu." The Hokage said.

"Wouldn't it have been better to let Kurenai test him there? I am not much of a genjutsu user." Asuma said.

Arata had appeared at Asuma's side and began healing his injuries. When he walked to Naruto he shook his head.

"I'm okay." He said and the medic went to the side.

"I don't think we would need a genjutsu specialist. I don't want news about Dark Phoenix getting out too soon. Arata here is one of my personal medics and won't tell a thing. I only need to know how good he is at casting them and at dispelling a few lower level ones. I know you can do a B-rank genjutsu."

Asuma nodded. That B-rank genjutsu was his highest level genjutsu. It only worked if he got his opponent by surprise. But if his father only wanted to test if Dark Phoenix could break it, it would do. Naruto got ready.

"Okay, we will start with you starting to cast a genjutsu at Asuma, Dark Phoenix." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded and went through handseals at a fast pace.

"Illusion art: Pervert's paradise." He said.

The Hokage waited for Asuma to get out of the genjutsu, but instead he saw that Asuma had started to drool and only looked strangely happy. Then he sported a huge nosebleed and fell back, knocked out.

"What kind of jutsu was that?" The Hokage asked Naruto, whom he swore was grinning brightly under his mask.

"The genjutsu shows him the woman he likes offering him to do whatever sexual fetish he has. It works on nearly everybody." Naruto said innocently.

"How the hell did you come up with that jutsu?" The Hokage asked baffled.

"Well, the same way I came up with that ninjutsu." Naruto said, stressing 'that ninjutsu'.

The Hokage knowing which one he meant had to suppress a nosebleed himself.

"It was meant to be a distraction in case I was running away from others. And it isn't limited to men. It works with the general preferences of the one I catch in it." Naruto explained.

"I am impressed. Can you please wake up Asuma again, so we can continue?" The Hokage asked Arata.

The medic nodded and pushed his chakra into Asuma's system to break him out of the genjutsu. Asuma opened his eyes and saw his father, Arata and Dark Phoenix looking at him amused.

"Damn, that jutsu is really dangerous. You simply don't want to get out of it." Asuma commented groaning.

Now he was glad that Kurenai wasn't here. She would never forgive him. Thankfully nobody knew what his illusion had been. That would be a definite death sentence for him.

"Okay, let's get this over with. Let's see if you are as good as escaping from a genjutsu." Asuma said and went through his handseals. "Illusion art: Prison of silence." Asuma said.

Naruto just stood there and wondered what the jutsu was supposed to do.

"Erm, when should the jutsu start to work, Asuma?" He asked.

"It should already do it, can you hear me?" Asuma asked.

"Yes, no problem. So I guess it should have messed up my hearing?" Naruto guessed.

"Yes, it should. That's strange. It should have worked. I cast it correctly, I'm sure." Asuma wondered.

"Try another one, Asuma." The Hokage said.

"Illusion art: Hell viewing technique." Asuma announced, but Naruto still stood there wondering why nothing happened.

"Nothing?" The Hokage asked.

"No. I know what the hell viewing technique should do as I also know that jutsu, but I don't feel anything. Strange, I didn't even feel any foreign chakra reaching me." Naruto said.

"You can feel foreign chakra?" Arata asked interested.

"Yes, I'm a sensor type." Naruto said.

"That could be a reason. Let me test something." Arata said and activated his mystical palm jutsu.

"I will come closer with my hands to that cut you got in the weapons fight with Asuma. If I am right, something should stop me." Arata said.

Naruto nodded and held out his arm. It was already healed by the Kyubi, but he wouldn't inform Arata of that fact. In case he wondered he could make up a minor bloodline for healing. Arata pushed his hands over the cut in Naruto's shirt and was stopped an invisible layer of chakra.

"I thought so. Young sensors sometimes place a thin layer of chakra over all of their skin to have it easier to use their sensor skills. It' a subconscious thing. That layer of chakra prevents foreign chakra like for genjutsus to enter the body. Therefore they are immune against lower level genjutsus. I guess a genjutsu specialist would still manage to get through, but nobody else." Arata explained.

"I never heard of something like that." The Hokage said.

"It's not very common. Perhaps one in hundred sensor types does it. Mostly if they teach themselves some of their skills. If they have an experienced sensor to teach them it normally doesn't happen. Tsunade Sama found this anomaly during the second shinobi world war because one on her team had that immunity to genjutsu and she wanted to know if it was possible to teach it to others." Arata said.

"Okay, this is good to know. Well, I guess we will have to postpone the genjutsu test as it is not possible for us right now to test if Dark Phoenix can break genjutsu. Perhaps when it becomes more pressing I will let Kurenai test him. Just to satisfy my curiosity. What is your strongest genjutsu?" He asked Naruto.

"Illusion Art: Infinite Darkness." Naruto answered.

"Isn't that a jutsu of the Nidaime Hokage?" Arata asked.

"It is. We will have to talk about how you learned that jutsu, Dark Phoenix. For now, I think it is time to examine your ninjutsu. I would like to have a presentation of five of your strongest jutsu to see what you can do and then you will fight against Asuma." The Hokage ordered.

"Can I have an oath that nobody talks about those ninjutsu? I trust you that you chose trustworthy people to watch this test, but two of my jutsus will tell them exactly just who I am." Naruto said.

The Hokage was surprised at that request. Could Naruto know his father's most prized techniques?

"Okay. Arata, Asuma, if I am right about which jutsus Dark Phoenix intends to show us, that oath will be necessary. I make it an S-rank secret to keep quiet about them until I give you permission to talk about them."

"Understood." Both said.

Naruto nodded and took out a tri-pronged kunai from his pouch on his back. He threw it at the training post and vanished in a flash of yellow, reappearing at the kunai and showing a blue spiralling orb into the training post.

"Rasengan." He said and showed the ball through the wood as if it was butter.

"The Yondaime's jutsus." Arata said shocked. "Flying Thundergod and Rasengan."

Asuma gave a very good impression of a goldfish. He never had even suspected that the Yondaime could have had a son. That seemed to be the only plausible explanation for this boy to know those jutsus.

Naruto flashed back to his original position and went through a series of handseals.

"Water release: Water dragon bullet." He said and manipulated water from the river into a water dragon that hit the training post which already had a hole from the rasengan.

The post was blown away from the powerful jutsu. Naruto waited until the water had settled down and went through his next series of handseals.

"Wind release: Twisters' fury." He shouted and made three tornados that blew towards the river and sucked up the water making them even more dangerous.

Then Naruto made his last handseal.

"Shadow clone jutsu." He said and created fifty shadow clones.

"Shit." Was Asuma's only comment.

The Hokage was very impressed. He wouldn't have thought that Naruto had that kind of strong ninjutsus in his repertoire. He would be a force to be reckoned with in the future. This only made it more imperative to keep the boy in the village. He needed to choose a good jonin sensei with whom the boy could bond. It was only one real option there. While Naruto would only stay a genin for six months with skills like his, those months needed to be used to start positive bonds to the village. He couldn't take care of that through his team-mates, he would be paired with Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto had said himself he had intended to do that to make sure the team passed, and Sakura Haruno. He hoped it would be okay, but perhaps he should ask Naruto about his opinion about Sakura first. He didn't want to anger him even more than he already was.

The following fight with Asuma showed that Naruto had a wide range of ninjutsu he could use. Especially his use of replacement and body flicker was fantastic. Asuma didn't manage to get a hit in as Naruto changed places so fast. Together with his speed he could honestly say Naruto was high jonin level in ninjutsu. He knew how to do the jutsus and when to use them in a fight.

Finally he gave both the signal to stop.

"Damn it. To have to work like that against a kid his age, I really should start training more." Asuma commented.

He had been spammed with clones and tricked by transformations. Mixed with the constantly moving Naruto and his higher level elemental jutsus, it was damn hard to get the kid. If he would use his other skills Asuma didn't doubt he would be able to go up with jonin in a few months of real missions. He had noticed that while the kid was good, he made mistakes that someone who had been on a hundred missions or so wouldn't make. This meant this kid was a rookie. His opinion rose even more after that revelation.

"Let him do a few C-rank and B-rank missions and he will be ready to become jonin. There were a few rookie mistakes that you only get corrected through experience. You should for example not wait to see if your jutsu really hit an opponent and neglect your surroundings. Your sensor ability helped you out there, but you should have been more on guard in those situations." Asuma told Naruto who nodded.

"I will remember it next time, Asuma." He replied.

"Okay, the next part is Arata's specialty. I would like a bit more about your knowledge in poisons." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded and went over to Arata. Meanwhile Asuma talked to his father.

"He is really good. How did you train him and where? I wouldn't have thought you could hide the Yondaime's son for twelve years." Asuma asked.

"Well, even I don't know how he trained. I didn't know he was this strong before he told me some days ago when he brought back the forbidden scroll that Mizuki had stolen." The Hokage answered.

"You want to tell me that kid learned all that on his own? Where would he get the jutsus?" Asuma asked. "And why didn't you teach him? I would have thought he would have got special training regarding his father's enemies."

"I wanted to, but the political situation after the Kyubi attack was extremely shaky. We had to fear that Iwa or Kumo would use our weakness to kill him if they knew who he was. So I hid him away. I couldn't have the villagers talk about him even existing. If he had got special training, people would have asked why. And I didn't want to let Danzo or one of the other idiots know about him. The civilians would have pestered me with the CRA nonsense, even if he doesn't have a bloodline limit, made marriage proposals for their daughters to get more power and similar things would have happened through the ninja clans that would have fought to raise him to increase their power." The Hokage explained.

"That makes sense. But it is fishy that he could get this strong on his own with nobody noticing." Asuma admitted.

"Indeed. I will have a long talk with him how he managed it, but I guess he will keep a lot secret. There are certain reasons he informed me about his skills a few days ago, but they are classified. Now let's see what Arata says about his knowledge about poisons. And then I will ask him to show us some of his seals. He said he was a seal master, so I am curious what he can do."

Asuma just nodded.

"Okay, I think that will do for now, Dark Phoenix. You have a very good foundation in your knowledge. If you continue your studies there, you should reach proficiency in a year or so." Arata said.

"So what is your verdict?" The Hokage asked.

"He has good knowledge about poisonous plants and animals from which he gets his ingredients for the poisons he uses. His techniques to mix those poisons are good. But his knowledge is limited to paralysing and lethal poisons. If he wants to go further in the area he needs to branch out. I estimate he is a solid high chunin level in his skills here. For his age that is still impressive. I don't know many ninjas that are allrounders like he is. He should be able to take B-rank missions without too much problem in an experienced team as support." Arata said.

The Hokage nodded. There was no way he would let Naruto take A-rank missions in the near future, even if he was skilled. But his team would need to be trained properly so they could send them on C-ranks after a short time.

"Okay, then if I didn't miss anything only fuinjutsu is left." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded enthusiastically. He loved fuinjutsu. He took out some seals he had brought with him to show the Hokage.

"Okay, these are some of the seals I prepared to show you, Hokage Sama. I think they are some of the most useful in the field. This is a modified explosive seal. It first sends a chakra wave out that imitates killing intent, then the explosion goes off. The intention is to briefly paralyse an opponent with the KI to keep them within the range of the seal. The next one is a combination of a storage seal and an explosive seal. The weapons stored in the storage part are shot out by the explosive part and can surprise an opponent who doesn't expect to have to dodge weapons. The seal can be prepared in two ways. First, you trigger it with your own chakra from a certain distance or second you involve a perimeter seal that reacts to foreign chakra. It has a range about twenty metres. " He then took out another type of seal.

"This is a modified chakra storage seal. You can store chakra of a certain type, like water or fire chakra in here and release it when you need it. You would only have to meld the chakra into a jutsu after that."

"Do you mean, with those seals ninja could use jutsus of an element they normally can't use?" Asuma asked.

"Yes. Of course they would need to know the handseals for the jutsu and meld the chakra, but the elemental manipulation would be taken care of." Naruto said.

"Fantastic. That would make fights much easier. You would be able to prevent being caught at a total disadvantage. With my element wind and knowledge in fire jutsus I would have problems with water types. If I had some earth seals I could take care of that problem." Asuma mused. "But how do you load them? Don't you need the elemental chakra first to charge them?"

"That was a problem in the beginning until I came up with chakra converter seals. I am a primary wind type with a secondary water affinity. So I would be hard pressed against earth techniques if I didn't recognize the jutsu first, which still takes some time for me. I wanted to have a way to use lightning jutsus. So I worked on a seal that would change my wind chakra to lightning chakra. Took me some time to develop it, but after three months I had it. And I found out that by using the seals regularly I developed a lightning affinity as my third affinity. I think it is comparable with the sharingan training a user to use jutsus of all kinds as it can copy them." Naruto reported proudly.

"Are you going to sell some of your seals?" Asuma asked.

"Perhaps, I'm not sure yet." Naruto said.

He had thought about making money through selling his seals, but who would buy them if they knew he made them? And he didn't know how it would work through a proxy. Perhaps the Hokage could help him there.

"Okay, I see you really know your seals. To see how good you are overall we would have to wait for Jiraiya to return from his travels. He's out of the village most of the time maintaining his spy network." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded. He knew that Jiraiya of the sannin had been his dad's jonin sensei and was a seal master, the only one the village had at the moment besides himself and he needed to be evaluated to be acknowledged first.

"I think we are done here. Dark Phoenix, I want to see you in my office in two hours. Arata, thanks for your help, you're dismissed. Asuma, please come to my office in four hours, we will then finalize the new genin teams with the other jonin senseis."

"Okay." Asuma said and Arata bowed.

* * *

**So, that was Naruto's skill test. And if anybody thinks Naruto is too strong, I want to remind you that in this story Naruto has trained hard since he was seven. So he had five years to develop his skills and three of them with shadow clones. I always wondered why in the manga the jutsu's abilities weren't used more after the wind element training. Till next time in two weeks.**


	4. Genin Teams

**Hi, here I am with the next update. I'm really pleased with the feedback I got for this story and with how many people read this story. Now we are going to start with the 'official' start of Naruto's career. Happy reading.**

* * *

**Genin Teams**

Four hours after the test the Hokage and the nine jonins that would take a team this year, even Kakashi had come on time after the Hokage had threatened his Icha Icha books.

"Good, now that we are all here, we will go over the teams that will be announced to the new genin next Monday." The Hokage then proceeded to read the teams to the jonin.

"I would like for Genma to take team one, Aoba, you get team two, Inoichi, you get team three, Choma, you have team four. Isuna, team five, Makiko, you have team six. Now, Kakashi gets team seven, Kurenai, you have team eight and Asuma gets team ten." The Hokage informed them.

They nodded.

"If you have any questions about your team, ask Iruka Umino, he taught the class over the last two years. All except Kakashi are dismissed." The Hokage said.

The jonin left the office after bowing.

"What did you want to talk about with me, Hokage Sama?" Kakashi asked.

"You have the most important team of the whole year this time, Kakashi. I know that the council will force you to pass the team for Sasuke Uchiha, but I don't want you to play favourites. This is a matter of village security." The Hokage said while activating the privacy seals in the room. "ANBU, please wait outside while I brief Kakashi." He ordered.

The four hidden ANBU left the room.

"This seems to be really important, Hokage Sama." Kakashi analysed.

"It is. Do you know who Naruto Uzumaki really is?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, he is Naruto Namikaze, Minato sensei's son." Kakashi answered nodding, his eye looking dead serious now.

"Correct. I suspected you knew. Two days ago I found out that Naruto knows about his parents and the fox. He is no genin; he should have normally already been jonin by now. But with the sabotage and hatred the civilian council shows him, he hid it. I had Asuma test Naruto today in a disguise. The boy is a prodigy. He is jonin level in ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, weapons and taijutsu. We don't really know his level in genjutsu as he is immune to lower level ones because he is a sensor and has his body covered in a chakra layer that blocks invading chakra. A medic informed me that that sometimes happens with self-taught sensors. Obviously Tsunade found out about that phenomenon. He knows basics of poisons and is really smart.

"The problem is that thanks to the idiots on the council Naruto has next to no real connection with the village. He sees me as trustworthy and likes me, but I think the only other ones that could be said about are the Ichirakus. Nobody else in the entire village. Naruto confessed that he would have run away long ago if he had had a chance. Now I know I am old. If I die and Naruto doesn't get new bonds, he will run. I give him a year at most to be able to not be caught by the ANBU anymore if they were sent to get him back. He won't let the council screw him anymore. And Naruto has inherited both his parents' talent. He is the heir of the Uzumaki, Namikaze and Senju clans. And he is more talented than even Itachi was. I don't have to tell you that we can't let him go somewhere else. I want you to train your team properly Kakashi. No being late more than half an hour. Naruto hates his team-mates, but will accept them until he can take the chunin exams in six months. So the only person he would willingly connect to, if he is treated properly, are you, his jonin sensei.

"Naruto is important for the future of the village. If he leaves, the most probable destination he could go to is Kumo. They treat their jinchuriki properly now. I don't have to tell you that it would be a catastrophe for Konoha if Kumo got Naruto in their ranks. He knows both Rasengan and the Flying Thundergod jutsu of his father. He is probably a fuinjutsu master and his ninjutsu is impressive. He has a wind affinity with a secondary water affinity and a developed lightning affinity from him developing a chakra converter seal that turned his wind chakra in lighting chakra and then training lightning jutsus. Both his normal affinities are trained. I don't know how he managed to hide his training; he was only willing to tell me he found a secret place where he lives now and trains. He also found scrolls and other things there.

"You have the next six months to get Naruto a new bond to the village. If you can, more than that. Make sure nobody screws him over on missions in the village and get the other two ready for C-rank missions ASAP. Sasuke shouldn't be a problem. The boy wants to get stronger and you should be able to break him out of his superiority ideas. I think the bigger problem will be Sakura. The girl didn't get good marks on her physical exams. The reason she became top kunoichi is that the written test was a big part of the exams and that she has perfect chakra control due to her small reserves. If you have to, break her, but team seven has to get strong soon." The Hokage impressed the importance on Kakashi.

Kakashi was really surprised. He hadn't known that Naruto was that strong, but he could understand that he had a strong dislike for the villagers. He had saved him more than once from mobs when Naruto was younger.

"I understand Hokage Sama. I will think of something to teach Naruto to keep him interested. I can also tell him more about his parents if he wants to. Do you know if he can use Kyubi's chakra?" Kakashi asked.

"No, he can't. But he can suppress it really well so far. He thinks that if he is strong enough on his own he doesn't have to rely on the dangerous chakra of the fox. He knows that he can't trust the fox. He had met it after he found out that he was the jinchuriki for Kyubi, but other than trying to get Naruto to let him out he didn't try anything so far. And Naruto is too smart to not know that if he lets the fox out, he will lose himself." The Hokage explained.

"Good. Because I wouldn't know how to teach him that. I will make sure Naruto will start to be better connected with some of his peers. I think I could get at least Asuma to arrange team sparring sessions if his team passes, which I think they will. I haven't seen any version of an Ino-Shika-Cho team that failed the genin exams. Perhaps Kurenai would also do it. Her team looks like they could pass too." Kakashi said.

"I trust you, Kakashi. We have six months until Naruto makes chunin. By the way, get back to your old level in ANBU and if possible surpass it. At the moment you are my only real option as a successor. The only others would be Jiraiya and Tsunade and I can't imagine that Tsunade would come back to the village and I fear what Jiraiya would do as Hokage. And if neither of you take the hat it will probably go to Danzo."

"I understand, Hokage Sama." Kakashi said.

"Good, you are dismissed, Kakashi." The Hokage said.

Kakashi left the office.

* * *

The day of the team placements was there and Naruto for the first time wore his new outfit. He had long black pants that were taped with dark red bandages. He wore a dark red mesh-shirt under a dark grey shirt with three quarter sleeves and a hood. He wore a dark red belt with two pouches on his back. On both of his thighs were pouches for shuriken and senbon that were strapped over black bandages. Over the shirt he wore a dark red vest with pockets specially made to store scrolls and small containers for different things. Naruto kept his poisons there. He had dark red gloves with metal plates on the back, in which he had sealed his tanto and his bo staff. The hood of his shirt hung over his vest on his back. He would only put it on for missions where his bright hair would be a hindrance.

He looked in the mirror and was happy with how he looked now. He finally looked like a real shinobi. He turned off the lights of his home and walked up the stairs. He made sure that he was alone in the alley and then left through the hidden entrance. Once the wall was back in position, he jumped up on the roof and went to the academy. He reached the classroom and took a seat in the back. Only two others were there. Hinata Hyuga and Shino Aburame. Shino gave him a short nod and Hinata turned red again when he smiled at her. Naruto didn't really understand why she always turned red, but as she was never mean like the other students, he liked her.

Shino just shook his head, seeing the display of Naruto and Hinata. Naruto was really dense sometimes. He knew Naruto wasn't as bad and stupid as he supposedly was. His allies had told him that Naruto had excellent chakra control and intentionally messed up things. He had observed Naruto after finding out that and came to the conclusion that Naruto wanted to stay at the bottom of the class for some reason. He didn't know his reason, but he respected Naruto's privacy.

Hinata was really hard pressed to not faint when Naruto walked into the class. She had been really happy when he had passed his exams. Many had thought he would fail them. Now he wore some new clothes and he looked really good in them. He obviously had hidden his muscular body under the old, bulky, orange jumpsuit. His new clothes sat tighter on his upper body and didn't leave much to imagination. How could a twelve year old boy look that good? Now the other students began filling the room. Some were surprised to see Naruto in a new outfit, but most of them ignored him. Though some girls gave him appreciative looks.

Then the daily stampede occurred. Sakura and Ino raced each other to the classroom to decide who would be allowed to sit next to Sasuke. Stupid really. They were kunoichi now, they should act like it.

Once they had entered the room they fought who had won. Naruto had enough. He had watched that embarrassment of kunoichis too long. He quickly threw a senbon at each of them and hit both their thighs. They looked shocked, then they had problems moving.

"What the?" Ino asked, then she couldn't move her lips anymore.

"Finally they are quiet." Naruto mumbled.

Only Shino and Hinata had noticed that he had thrown the senbons at Ino and Sakura and were impressed with his accuracy and the obviously paralysing agent on the senbons. When Iruka came into the class, Ino and Sakura were still paralysed. Naruto mentally counted down for the poison he used to lose its effect. It should only hold for thirty more seconds. It was only meant to paralyse for five minutes. More than enough time in a one on one fight to take out your opponent.

"What happened here?" Iruka asked.

"Well, Ino and Sakura fought who would sit next to Sasuke, then they were hit with a senbon each and were paralysed." A girl informed Iruka.

"Who did this?" Iruka asked.

Naruto raised his hand.

"Don't worry, the effect only lasts for five minutes, Iruka sensei. They should be back to normal in three, two, one, now." Naruto said.

True to Naruto's words Ino and Sakura stumbled when their muscles reacted again.

"In two minutes they are back to normal." Naruto said disinterestedly.

"Why did you do that, Naruto?" Iruka asked sternly.

"They were too loud and an embarrassment for every kunoichi that takes her profession serious. I just wanted to show them what can happen if they don't keep an eye on their environment. They didn't even think to pull out the senbons as soon as they hit them. That would have shortened the time the poison worked." Naruto said without remorse.

The whole class looked shocked. Naruto had never behaved like this. He had always been a goofball. Not this serious. The most surprised was Iruka who started to have doubts about their assessment of Naruto's skills. Over the years he had lost his hatred for Naruto. He had understood that Naruto wasn't the fox and never treated him worse than his other students. He even admired how the boy persevered despite the hatred of the villagers.

"Nonetheless, it's wrong to attack your comrades." Iruka said.

"That wasn't an attack; that was a rescue mission for the ears of those that have sensitive hearing and easily get headaches. If I would have wanted to attack them, they would be dead now." Naruto countered. "I would just have had to use a deadly poison instead of a paralysing one or aimed at a vital point. With their reaction times they would be dead before help would have arrived."

Iruka couldn't say anything against that. Naruto was right. He could have easily killed them. He wondered why the boy had changed so dramatically.

"Well, sit down, Ino and Sakura, we will start with the team placements." Iruka said.

Grumbling the two girls took seats, ironically on both sides of Sasuke.

Iruka gave his class a speech how proud he was of them for graduating and how the real life of ninjas now waited for them. He told them to do their best and then proceeded to read out the teams.

"…, team seven, Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno,…" with that Sakura's head crashed onto the table and Ino mocked her "…and Sasuke Uchiha." Sakura cheered.

"Take that Ino Pig. True love conquers all." She shouted loudly only to be hit with a senbon again. This time in her shoulder. She turned around to shout at Naruto only to be paralysed again.

"Don't worry, that will take five minutes to wear off again. You can continue Iruka sensei." Naruto said, shaking his head at Sakura's idiocy. He had told her to first take out the senbon.

Iruka just shook his head and wondered about the display of accuracy from Naruto. That point was where normally a vein was. Did he know anatomy that well? He hadn't shown anything like that before.

"Team eight, Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame." Iruka said and the three looked at each other. "Team nine is still active, so team ten are Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi and Ino Yamanaka."

"What? Why do I get the lazy ass and the one who only eats when forehead girl gets to be on Sasuke's team?" She ranted, only to be hit with another senbon into her hip.

She grabbed the senbon and pulled it out and turned angrily to Naruto. But she couldn't even start her rant because she was paralysed.

"Better. Three minutes, at least she remembered to take out the senbon quickly." Naruto commented.

"Naruto, please refrain from paralysing your comrades." Iruka admonished him.

"Why should I? And I only use the term comrades very loosely with most of the class." Naruto said. "You don't honestly expect me to treat them any different than they did me all those years? If you did, forget it! I have had it with the shit!" Naruto stated.

Iruka was worried. Naruto clearly bore a strong dislike for most of the class. It was understandable, but why did he show it now? Was the fox taking over?

"Hah, what could a dead last like you do to us?" The son of a shop owner that always kicked Naruto out asked.

Naruto answered by vanishing from his seat and holding a kunai to the boy's throat.

"Don't underestimate me. You know nothing about me. I dare you to live one day of my life. You will want to kill yourself. You are not even close to strong enough to get through." Naruto said in a low voice.

"Naruto, that's enough." Iruka shouted.

"He asked for it." Naruto answered and vanished again to return to his seat.

In his seat Sasuke was seething. How could the dead last have those abilities? Only he, an Uchiha should have them. He was the Rookie of the Year. Normally Sakura would have yelled at Naruto to stop trying to be cool, but she couldn't, the poison still worked. Then Ino's paralysis stopped. She first wanted to yell at him, but thought better of it and sat down. Twice having been hit with senbons and being paralysed was enough. And Naruto would obviously do it again if he felt they were too loud.

* * *

Half an hour after the other teams had been taken by their jonin senseis team seven still sat in the classroom. Sasuke was busy glaring at Naruto, Sakura was mooning over Sasuke and Naruto was drawing in a notebook. He was working on a new seal and everything was better than having to deal with his so called team-mates. Then the door opened and a silver haired man with gravity defying hair came in. Naruto looked up. He recognized the man. He was the jonin he had copied the shadow clone jutsu from. He was Kakashi Hatake, one of the best jonin in the village. His dad's old student. It seemed like the Hokage had kept his word and given him a sensei who wouldn't hate him for the fox. Kakashi had to know about sealing and perhaps he even knew that he was the Yondaime's son.

"Hm, my first impression, you are boring. Meet me at the roof in five minutes." He said and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke and Sakura stood up and walked out of the room. Naruto waited a moment and then followed. If there were traps on the way, the two idiots would trigger them. He would stay alert. It was always better to be on guard and over the years it had become second nature to him. He heard cursing in front of him. Obviously Kakashi's lateness had had a reason. True to his suspicions, Sakura was trapped in a sling of ninja wire around her feet and dangling from the ceiling. Sasuke was pinned to the wall with two shuriken through his sleeves.

"You really should listen better. I told you to always be on guard. There were only a few reasons our sensei would be late and preparing a small test with traps was one of them." He said. He threw a kunai at the wire that held Sakura in the air and made her fall to the ground. "Get the bastard freed and follow me." He said and walked on.

On the way he lazily disabled two more traps. Then they reached the door to the roof. Naruto carefully checked for more traps on the door and found none. He opened it a little bit, only for Sakura shoving him out of the way being impatient. She shouted they would be late. Naruto threw himself down when he felt projectiles coming at them. Sasuke, who had seen that there would be traps to expect, followed Naruto's example. Both avoided being hit.

Naruto rolled out of the line of fire and was ready to defend himself in case of an attack. He saw that Sakura was pierced by five senbons and whining. Sasuke behind him was also ready for another attack.

"Well, my second impression is, we need to work on your speed in disabling or avoiding traps. You are late. You needed six and a half minutes to get here. But I have to acknowledge that you at least got here as a team. Even if the girl shouldn't have got that impatient. Better being late than dead. If I was an enemy I could have killed you easily. Which leads us to my next question, what was your first mistake?" Kakashi asked, looking sternly at them.

"Taking the route you expected us to take. We could have avoided this by using another route. The best way would have been if we had used chakra to stick to the wall and climbed up here. But as two of us don't know this exercise and we are supposed to be a team we had to take the only other route." Naruto said.

"Correct. That exercise will be one of the first things you will learn during your time as genin. That is if you manage to become genin." Kakashi said eye smiling.

"What do you mean, if we manage to become genin? We graduated, so we are genin!" Sakura said.

"No, not yet, but I will tell you about that later. Sit down." Kakashi instructed them.

He pointed at three benches in front of him. The three sat down with Naruto checking the underside of his bench for traps but not finding any. Kakashi nodded appreciatively at Naruto's action.

"For now I want you to give me a short introduction of yourselves. Name, age, likes, dislikes, hobbies and dreams. Pinky you start." Kakashi ordered.

Sakura looked confused.

"How should we do that, sensei? Couldn't you start to give an example?" She asked.

"What does Shinobi rule number three say? Blacky." Kakashi said, ignoring Sakura's question.

"A ninja has to always follow a direct order of his superior." Sasuke answered.

"Correct." Kakashi answered.

Sasuke was impressed with this jonin. He clearly knew what he did and had a no nonsense attitude. Perhaps this would work out well. He would see how strong he was.

"So, Pinky, I gave you a direct order and I expect you to follow my orders or you should just quit being a ninja."

Sakura nodded intimidated by Kakashi.

"Yes, sensei. My name is Sakura Haruno. I am twelve years old. The thing I like, more the person I like is …." She looked at Sasuke and blushed "… my hobby is…" she again looked at Sasuke and blushed harder and giggled "…my dream is…" she looked at Sasuke and squealed.

"Your dislike?" Kakashi asked annoyed. He just had to get a fangirl.

"Ino Pig and Naruto!" She shouted.

"We will have to work on your attitude. Shinobi rule number twenty five, Blondie?"

"A ninja never shows his emotions." Naruto recited calmly.

"Correct." Kakashi said.

Sasuke was surprised. He didn't think Naruto had paid attention in class. And then his new skills. Why was Naruto so different than before? He would find it out.

Sakura huffed. She had the right to show her love to Sasuke.

"Okay, next is Blacky." Kakashi said.

Sasuke obviously disliked the nickname but kept quiet.

"Sasuke Uchiha, twelve years old. I like nothing in particular and have many things I dislike. My hobby is training. I don't have a dream, more of an ambition, I will resurrect the Uchiha clan and I will kill a certain somebody." He stated.

Sakura had hearts in her eyes, thinking Sasuke was so cool. Naruto rolled his eyes. The emo had no reason to be all egoistical and full of hate. He was treated like a pampered prince in the village. Kakashi had expected something like that.

"Okay, next Blondie." Kakashi continued.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I am twelve years old. I like the old man and Ichiraku's. I dislike most of the villagers, especially those that can't distinguish a scroll and a kunai. My hobby is training and gardening. My dream is to become the strongest ninja ever and show this village just how much they screwed up." Naruto said.

'He really is different from what his file said, but Hokage Sama warned me. If we don't get him out of the darkness, he could become a problem for the village. Not that I can blame him.' Kakashi thought.

"Okay, my name is Kakashi Hatake, I'm twenty six years old. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern for now. I have many hobbies and my dream, I never really thought about it." He told them.

'The only thing we found out was his name and his age.' Sasuke and Sakura thought.

'I know that voice from somewhere.' Naruto thought, trying to place the voice of his sensei.

"Now that introductions are over, I will come to the part that you aren't genin yet. There is a rule in the village that all genin have to be confirmed by their respective jonin senseis. Each sensei gives his team a test. And from the twenty seven genin that passed the graduation exams in your year only nine will be accepted as genin. That means this test has a probability of failure of sixty-seven per cent." Kakashi pointed out.

"What? But what was the meaning of the exams then?" Sakura protested. There was no way in hell she would give up being on the same team as Sasuke.

"That was to weed out the hopeless cases. The only one that has a say if you become genin or not am I." Kakashi said giving an imposing figure with his arms stemmed at his sides and looking down at them.

Naruto's memory finally connected the voice and the pose.

'Dog?' He questioned mentally.

Dog had been an ANBU that had often protected him when he was younger. Naruto really hoped his sensei was his old ANBU guard. He had really liked dog, especially as the man had often given him some sweets to help him over the shock after attacks. Kakashi handed them a piece of paper with information.

"The test will be tomorrow morning at seven at training ground three. Bring all your equipment. Oh, and you better don't eat breakfast or you will just throw up." Kakashi informed them.

Then Kakashi disappeared in a cloud of smoke again. Sasuke stood up and walked away, Sakura closely behind him to try and get a date with him. Naruto wondered how long it would take for her to be killed on a mission like that. He decided preparation was necessary and used the body flicker to get to training ground three. He spent three hours inspecting the training ground to be prepared for the next day. He didn't know if his so called team-mates would remember the lesson about knowing the terrain before a fight, but he did know that they wouldn't listen if he told them about it.

Naruto then went into the woods to a river where he knew tasty fish could be caught. He caught three fishes for his dinner, went to his field to get some fresh vegetables and then went to prepare his food. A small campfire and an hour of cooking later, he had grilled fish and roasted vegetables. He ate and then extinguished the fire. On his way home he took to the roofs to avoid the glares from the villagers. He also didn't want to be found by messengers of the council. They would surely bitch about his behaviour in class. Well, let them bitch. He was a ninja under the command of the Hokage; they had no power over him.

* * *

Kakashi had observed Naruto after the meeting was over. He was positively surprised that he went to the training ground where the test would be to get an idea which environment he would have to work with. After that he caught himself some fish and disappeared somewhere else. Kakashi let him go. It wouldn't be good if Naruto thought he followed him. He needed to gain Naruto's trust to help him. From his estimation the team meeting had gone well enough. Naruto was good and knew how to act as a ninja. Sasuke needed to get over his complexes. The best way to get there would be to practically isolate him from the village until the chunin exams. So he would have to carefully choose the D-Rank missions his team did. No missions inside the village where the villagers could show their bias against Naruto and towards Sasuke.

But at least Sasuke had the necessary skill to be a ninja. Attitudes could be corrected over time. Getting skills that should have been taught in the academy to an appropriate level was harder. Sakura would have to go through hell. She didn't consider her surroundings, she was loud, had a superiority complex towards Naruto and was a fangirl. Really bad combination. He would see her skills in a battle situation tomorrow. But he didn't expect much.

* * *

**So that's it for today. See you in two weeks.**


	5. Bell Test

**Hello, here we go again, the bi-weekly update for Dark Phoenix. Thanks to all those that wrote reviews, I really liked them and am happy that so many people like my idea.**

**Now happy reading.**

* * *

**Bell Test**

The next morning saw Sasuke and Sakura waiting for their sensei with empty stomachs. Naruto sat a bit away from his team, dozing under a tree with a full stomach. He knew that if you had the chance, you always ate before you had to fight to have enough energy to last through the fight. And if you didn't have much time, that's what energy bars had been made for. Being a ninja took energy, so following Kakashi sensei's suggestion or not seemed to be another test.

They had to wait for two hours until Kakashi came. Now Naruto was doubly glad he had ignored the advice. Sasuke and Sakura were obviously really hungry now.

"Good morning, team." Kakashi greeted.

"You're late!" Sakura screeched.

"You see, on my way here I saw an old lady that had to carry a heavy bag with her groceries, so I had to help her and carry her things home." Kakashi said.

"Liar!" Sakura shouted.

Naruto just shook his head. She let him rile her up even before the test started. Not a good way to show your skill. But then again, she didn't have real skill.

"Well, you know why you are here. Your genin test. To pass this test you have to get these two bells from me." Kakashi explained, showing them two little silver bells, which were chiming in his hands.

"But, Kakashi sensei, there are only two bells for the three of us." Sakura said.

"Correct. That means one of you won't get a bell. The one that doesn't get a bell will be tied to the post and I will eat lunch before his eyes." Kakashi said,

Two stomachs grumbled. Kakashi looked at Naruto.

"You seem to have eaten breakfast, Naruto; care to tell your team-mates why?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, you idiot. Didn't Sasuke tell us yesterday that ninjas have to follow their superior's orders?" Sakura yelled at him.

"A ninja needs to detect hidden meanings and tests. You only said we better not eat because we would only throw up. That isn't an order the way your worded it. It's more a bit of advice. But against a jonin like you we would never have a decent chance to pass any test if we didn't eat. Therefore I didn't take your advice." Naruto calmly said. "A ninja has to be able to decide which information is relevant for his mission and which is not."

"That is correct, Naruto, it wasn't an order. How would you have solved the problem if I had ordered not to eat before coming here?" Kakashi asked.

"I would have brought an energy bar to eat once I am here." Naruto answered.

Kakashi nodded appreciatively. That was the way a ninja should think.

"Good thinking, Naruto. You should all think how you can interpret orders so you get the best possible result for you and your team. Orders are not always set in stone, they allow us flexibility to fulfil our missions, otherwise there would be no need for ninjas to think and each mission can be compromised by bad information. That is one lesson you should always remember. A ninja needs to see underneath the underneath. Never take things at face value." Kakashi lectured.

Sasuke nodded. It made sense to him. He should have expected another test after the traps yesterday. He would be better prepared in the future. And obviously he needed to newly evaluate Naruto. He was in no way as stupid as he had seemed in the academy. Perhaps he wouldn't be only dead weight slowing him down. But first he needed to see how strong Naruto was to accept him as a team-mate.

"Additionally to not getting to eat, the one or ones who don't get a bell will be sent back to the academy for retraining." Kakashi announced.

This shocked Sasuke and Sakura. Going back to the academy? Naruto stayed calm. He had expected something like that. He would see what he could deduct once he wasn't under Kakashi's scrutiny. Then Kakashi took out an alarm clock, which brought a tick mark on Sakura's forehead.

"You have until noon to get the bells. You can use all your equipment. If you really want to get a bell, you will have to come at me with the intent to kill." Kakashi said.

"But, Kakashi sensei, you could be hurt if we did that." Sakura stated.

'As if.' Naruto thought.

"Don't worry about me. Ready, set, go." He said and the three jumped away to hide.

'At least they know how to hide.' Kakashi thought.

* * *

Naruto made a shadow clone to keep an eye on Kakashi and jumped through the tree tops to a point he knew his sensei wouldn't be able to see. He then started thinking about the test. There was something really fishy about it. No genin would be able to beat a jonin, especially not an elite jonin like Kakashi in a one-on-one situation. So there was more to this. Look underneath the underneath, Kakashi had said. What was the hidden intent of the test?

* * *

After he had disposed of Sakura by using a weak genjutsu, really and the teachers at the academy had written she had an aptitude for genjutsu, Kakashi was confronted with Sasuke who stated he was different from the other two.

"Well, we will see if that is true." Kakashi calmly said.

First Sasuke tried to engage Kakashi in taijutsu. Kakashi had to admit, Sasuke was good for a student fresh out of the academy; he even managed to touch the bells with the tips of his fingers. That was impressive even if he was holding back against his genin. He threw Sasuke at a distance. Sasuke shot a great fireball jutsu at Kakashi, who was surprised, because no normal genin should have so much chakra. When the fireball ran out of energy, Sasuke looked around. Where was Kakashi?

'Left, no; right, no; above, no.' He thought.

"Below." He then heard and was pulled underground by his feet.

"Not bad Sasuke, really not bad. But you still didn't get a bell. Perhaps the Uchiha aren't all what they are said to be." Kakashi said and left his student to ponder.

Sasuke was fuming, how did Kakashi dare to insult his clan?

* * *

Naruto meanwhile had the answer and it gave him a headache. Teamwork. How the hell should he achieve that? None of his two so-called team-mates would be willing to work with him. He had his shadow clone that was trailing and observing Kakashi dispel to get the information about the jonin's fighting style. He processed the memories of the clone and then went to have his turn. He made two shadow clones to get his downed team-mates and to explain them the test's meaning.

He reached Kakashi's position and went through some handseals.

"Illusion Art: Cloak of Invisibility." Naruto whispered and vanished from sight.

He silently closed in on Kakashi's position, trying to use his high level of stealth to steal the bells without Kakashi noticing him. He didn't really want to show his true abilities when Sasuke and Sakura were possibly watching. The genjutsu was a B-Rank one, but they would never really know that. If those two found out too early what he could really do they would bitch to the council and try to have him forced to teach the emo all his techniques; so not going to happen.

Naruto was now directly below the bells on the ground. Kakashi seemed to not notice him. He reached for the bells when his hand was caught. He kicked out at Kakashi and jumped back. How had he known?

He let his genjutsu on trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

"You are really good, Naruto. I wouldn't have thought you to use a genjutsu that hid you that perfectly, but I have been confronted with a similar one in the third shinobi war against Iwa." Kakashi said and lowered his book. Naruto saw he had uncovered his left eye.

"Sharingan? That's totally unfair in a genin test, Kakashi sensei." Naruto complained and let the genjutsu go.

"That might be true, but then again, you are no real genin, right?" Kakashi replied.

"So you were told." Naruto said.

"Of course. As your sensei I need to know which level you are at to properly train you. Hokage Sama told me of your test. I have to say I am impressed. So I decided when I felt the little chakra disruption from your shadow clone dispelling, that I would be prepared to take you serious." Kakashi answered. "How far do you want to go?"

"I don't want to show all I can do, or I fear the bastard and the banshee will run to the council to try and get me to give up my techniques to him. That won't happen with the Hokage in charge, but I don't really want to have to see the council at all." Naruto explained.

Kakashi covered his sharingan again and put his book back in his pouch.

"Understandable. So how about you restrict yourself to jutsus a chunin could know?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure. It will give me something to do until my clones tell me if they managed to get the two idiots to work with me."

"So you know what my test is about?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, teamwork. I just have problems to see them listening to me." Naruto said and went into the cheetah style opening position.

Kakashi was ready and the two started with taijutsu. Naruto tried to confuse Kakashi with his speed, but the experienced jonin blocked all his attempts to land hits.

"That will be hard to work against me. After all, my sensei used the same style of taijutsu, Naruto." Kakashi said.

Naruto knew that, but he had some surprises in his style. He finally got close enough for a grazing hit on Kakashi's lower thigh. He used his chakra in his hands to damage a muscle slightly.

Kakashi jumped back.

"I see, not completely your father's style then. You included elements of your own." He pondered.

Naruto followed Kakashi, trying to press a slight advantage. But Kakashi decided it was time to include ninjutsu in the fight. He changed positions with a log, which was hit by Naruto's overhead kick. Naruto was on guard. He knew Kakashi could attack from everywhere. Then he jumped up and grabbed the branch of the tree when Kakashi shot out of the ground. Naruto circled the branch and used the momentum to attack again. He unsealed his bo staff from his glove and started attacking. The greater reach of the staff enabled him to press Kakashi into defence. But Kakashi decided he needed to up his game.

"Fire release: phoenix flower." He said and shot some fire balls at Naruto.

Naruto reacted immediately, putting the staff on his back while jumping back and flying through his own handseals.

"Water release: water bullet." He shouted and shot a water-bullet from his mouth against the fire jutsu.

The water overpowered the fire. Naruto shot a flurry of senbon at Kakashi, which only hit another log.

In the bushes Sasuke was fuming from envy. Naruto was giving Kakashi a hard time in the fight. It seemed like Naruto was a lot better than he had thought.

"Are you now willing to listen?" The Naruto clone behind him asked.

"What do you want?" Sasuke jeered.

"The whole damn test is about teamwork. We pass if we work together. I don't like you anymore than you like me and we both detest the banshee. I only want you to push that aside and show Kakashi that we can work together if the situation requires it. The whole getting a bell is setting us up against each other. That's why he told us to look underneath the underneath. You see my original fighting out there. Kakashi is one of the strongest ninja we have in the village, a former ANBU captain. Do you really think we have a chance against him alone? If you really want to reach your goal you need his training, so we need to play by his rules. Nobody demands that we like each other, we only need to reach the mission goal." Naruto said.

Sasuke thought about what the clone had said. He hated to admit it, but it was true. He couldn't get a bell from Kakashi, he had tried. And now it seemed that his sensei had even held back. He would have to push his pride aside until he could go after Itachi.

"Okay, we do it. Do you have a plan?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, you order Sakura to distract him with thrown weapons, then attack him with your fire jutsu. I will increase the strength of your jutsu with my own and hide a few weapons in it." Naruto said relieved that Sasuke had finally seen sense.

"You can use fire jutsus?" Sasuke asked surprised. He had thought Naruto to be a water element.

"No, but a wind jutsu. The water jutsu you saw is my defence against fire users. Wind is weak against fire, but can also be used to increase the strength of a fire jutsu." Naruto told him.

Sasuke nodded. They didn't have time to discuss this.

"Where is Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"About five hundred metres away at two hundred forty five degrees." Naruto answered.

"Be ready in five." Sasuke said and went to order Sakura to do her part. The clone made another clone and dispelled it to inform the original.

The real Naruto was now on defence and tried to avoid Kakashi's attacks. Damn, his sensei was really good. He replaced himself with a log when Kakashi shot another fire attack at him. He then got the message from his clone. Thank god Sasuke's ambition was strong enough to override his pride for short periods of time. Naruto went to hide again and waited for the signal.

Then several kunai were thrown from the bushes. They were not very fast, but they were on target. Kakashi deflected them without problems. Then Sasuke shot his fireball and the Naruto clone strengthened it with a wind jutsu. The real Naruto waited at the side, expecting Kakashi to replace himself with a log. He knew which log he would probably use, so he aimed a bunch of coated senbon at the place. Kakashi managed to deflect all but one of them and quickly pulled it out of his arm. Kakashi attacked Naruto's position with a flurry of shuriken, forcing Naruto to move. Kakashi made a shadow clone of himself that got him out of danger.

Naruto followed, but had to fight the shadow clone.

"Sasuke, get the bells, you have two and a half minutes." Naruto shouted.

The shadow clone of Kakashi managed to keep his original safe for one and a half minutes. Then Sasuke closed in on their position and tried to grab the bells only to be stopped by a weakened Kakashi. Kakashi still defended the bells and then the alarm rang.

"Damn." Naruto said. "We were so close."

Kakashi ordered the three genin to the starting point. He tied Sakura to the post.

"Nice try, but you all didn't get the bells." Kakashi said.

"No, but that wasn't the intention of the test, wasn't it, Kakashi sensei?" Sasuke asked.

He had realized while they fought together, that their chance to get the bells had increased, so Naruto was probably right.

"So you also understood it. Sakura, do you also know the true meaning of the test? The secret to pass?" Kakashi asked.

'Huh? A true meaning?' She wondered.

"Obviously not. But you still helped your team-mates in the last attempt to get the bells. Why?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke said I should." She answered.

Naruto shook his head. The girl was so stupid and was praised as the smartest kunoichi in their class.

"Naruto, tell her." Kakashi said.

"The true test was if we could work together as a team. Alone none of us would have had a chance against an elite jonin like Kakashi sensei. Together we had a chance, like you saw in the end." Naruto said.

"Correct. I wanted to test if you could put your own interest aside and work for the overall goal of the mission, getting the two bells. I am happy that you in the end did it, even if not all of you understood the meaning of the test. Therefore you all pass."

All of the genins' faces lit up, even Naruto's a little bit.

"In our line of work, teamwork is the most important factor for the success of a mission. You have to always remember that rules and guidelines are not absolute. If you followed the rules and fought on your own to get a bell you would have overall lost, even if you would have managed to get one. Those that break the rules are trash in the ninja world, but those that abandon their comrades, are lower than trash. Always remember that. Konoha became the strongest of the five great shinobi villages by following this mentality. We fought in three wars and came out victorious because we cherished our comrades. Individual strength of a ninja is important, but without teamwork even the strongest can be brought down. Believe me, I have experienced it. Look at this stone." Kakashi pointed at the memorial stone.

"On this stone the names of those we call heroes in Konoha are engraved. All those ninja died in the line of duty. They are never forgotten because their comrades keep their memories alive. Right, we are done for today. Tomorrow we will start our training. Be at this training ground at six in the morning for physical training." Kakashi ordered.

Naruto nodded and walked away after hitting Sakura's binds with a shuriken to free her.

* * *

In the Hokage's office the jonin were assembling to report the results of their genin tests. Even Kakashi was only fifteen minutes late, which wondered the others.

After the first six teams had been reported to have failed, it was Kakashi's term.

"Team seven passed." He said.

The others stared at him unbelievingly. It was well-known that Kakashi never passed a team.

Kurenai then got out of her shock and reported.

"Team eight passed." She said.

Asuma was last.

"Team ten passed." He said.

"Okay, that means we have three new teams under Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma. Very good. The ones who failed their teams can go, the other three stay." The Hokage said.

When the others left the room, the Hokage turned to the new senseis.

"I would like a short overview over the things you think you need to work on with your teams." He told the three.

"Ladies first." Kakashi said to Kurenai who rolled her eyes.

"Okay, Kiba Inuzuka has a good base in his clan's techniques, but he is very brash. I will have to work with him to not just rush into a fight but assess his opponents' strengths and weaknesses. He could also use training in chakra control and genjutsu detection. Shino Aburame needs to increase his chakra reserves to better assess his combination attacks with his bugs and to work on his taijutsu as he can't use many ninjutsu without his bugs like all Aburame. But he has a very firm grip on strategy and knows how to work on a team. It was his planning that got my team to pass my test. Hinata Hyuga needs to overcome the belief that she will always fail that has been instilled into her by her clan. If she could do that she would be a lot stronger than she already is. She can use her byakugan at an acceptable level for somebody her age, but I have the feeling something is off with her taijutsu. It just doesn't seem to suit her fully. She has a good grasp on dispelling genjutsu and tries to get along with her team-mates." Kurenai said.

"I see. I want you to not only concentrate on training them as a tracking team, get them to be flexible. You have a team that consists of three clan heirs who all have had additional training in their clans' techniques. Be creative in how you train them. If possible, get them ready for the chunin exams in six months. It would look good for Konoha if we could present some clan heirs in the exams. Next." The Hokage said.

"Okay, I guess Kakashi wants to go last as he had the most difficult team of us." Asuma said. "Shikamaru Nara is your typical lazy Nara. He worked well together with Ino and Choji, but that was to be expected of an Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Shikamaru needs to get motivated. His techniques are okay; he used one of his clan's special jutsu to capture me. I didn't see any taijutsu from him, but considering his built he needs more physical training. Choji was following Shikamaru's plan to get the mission done with the least possible amount of work. He was in a supportive role. He needs to work on ninjutsu, genjutsu and speed. His power is above average, like you normally expect from an Akimichi. Ino is a problem. While she worked with her team-mates she was complaining that she wasn't on a team with Sasuke Uchiha all the time and about the lack of motivation in her team-mates. She is physically weak and has no stamina. The only way she could help with the test was that Shikamaru caught me and she could take over my body with a mind control jutsu. She didn't seem to have abilities above the academy jutsu, which she didn't really utilize as well." Asuma reported.

"Okay. Asuma, get your team in gear. You have the same directions as Kurenai, which also holds true for Kakashi. The chunin exams. Don't let your team slack in their training. If necessary put them through the grinder. Get their individual skills up. You have worked with Naras and Akimichis in the past, so you know how to handle them. I want both of your teams to be the face for the new genin teams in the village. You will take at least one D-rank mission a day from next week on. Train your teams to be coherent units. This generation we have a lot of strong individuals and we will need them in the future. Okay, Kakashi, your report." The Hokage said leaving the two jonin who had already reported wondering what was going to happen that they were given such orders. Something was up.

"I will start with Sakura. It seems like only Kurenai didn't get a fangirl in her team. But your fangirl, Asuma, does at least seem to accept her team-mates somewhat. Sakura is weak. There is no other way to say it. She doesn't have any individual skills above what the academy teaches and she didn't show anything impressive during the test. She only ran after Sasuke like a sick puppy, completely disregarding stealth. The only thing she did in the test was throwing some weapons to help with Naruto's plan on Sasuke's orders. I will have to put her through harsh physical training. The reports of the academy told she was skilled in genjutsu yet she fell for a simple D-rank one and fainted."

"Which one?" Kurenai interrupted.

"Demonic illusion: Hell viewing technique." Kakashi answered.

"But that is a standard one that should be used at the academy to train them in detecting and breaking out of genjutsu." Kurenai said disbelievingly.

"I know, that was the reason I used it. I wanted to see if the reports were correct. I have the impression they are not. I would advise you to check up the teaching the academy did in this year. The only ones that passed are the clan heirs and Sakura because her team-mates pulled her through. I have a suspicion that the teachers in their attempts to sabotage Naruto did more damage than we already thought."

The Hokage nodded. That was a problem. Normally at least a handful of students from civilian background passed.

"Next is Sasuke. He is skilled for a genin fresh out of the academy, but he has a serious attitude problem. His obsession with Itachi makes him completely disregard his team-mates. He tried to get the bells from me on his own and argued a long time with Naruto after he had lost his one-on-one with me that he didn't need help because he was an Uchiha. It took Naruto telling him what the meaning of the test was and using his weakness, Itachi, to get Sasuke to cooperate. Naruto more or less told him if he wanted to pass he needed to work with him and Sakura and that he would be stupid to let his pride get in the way of getting the best possible training from me, as I am a former ANBU captain." Kakashi said.

"How does Naruto know that?" Kurenai asked.

"I guess he recognized me by my voice or has more information on the ninja in the village than I thought. I have had a lot of contact with Naruto when he was little as one of his guards. Naruto performed exceptionally well. He saw through the test and got his team-mates to work with him. He also displayed great skills in all areas we test genin in, genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu. His academy report is only good for burning. Nothing in there is true. As you told me, Naruto dislikes both his team-mates immensely, but is willing to treat them neutrally to get a mission done. My team will never last past the chunin exams, but I think I can make it a workable unit." Kakashi said.

"We thought as much when the team was built. Okay, you already have your orders how to work with your team, Kakashi." The Hokage said.

"Erm, why does Kakashi already have orders, Hokage Sama? After all he never passed a team before." Kurenai asked.

"Because I had to pass this team. The civilian council ordered me to pass them, but with their performance I would have done it either way. I have special orders for the next six months to smooth out mistakes that were made in the past with both Naruto and Sasuke. And you know I am the only one who can teach Sasuke in using his sharingan as I have one myself, that is once he awakens it." Kakashi said.

"The problem is the council has put Sasuke on a pedestal in the village. Especially the civilians, but also some of the clans, see him as a potential source of power for them in the future. He is the only one who can bring back the Uchiha clan in Konoha and with them the sharingan, one of the strongest bloodline limits. The problem is that their attitude didn't help with keeping Sasuke grounded. He's already fixated on his revenge, I fear with the littlest information on Itachi he will go after him, ignoring his duty to the village. That's the reason Kakashi got special orders to keep his team away from missions that bring them in close contact with the villagers. I want to isolate Sasuke from the villagers as much as possible.

"Naruto was sabotaged all the time at the academy. The only teacher that treated him normal was Iruka because he didn't let his feelings of dislike cloud his professional attitude. But Naruto hid his true level of skill and intentionally passed as the dead last of his class. He wanted to be teamed up with Sasuke as he knew the council would pull the strings to pass Sasuke for sure. Naruto is a flight risk as well. With the hatred he was shown all his life he has built a strong resent for the village and only a few things hold him here. Naruto can be a strong asset to the village, if we handle him right now, but he could also become its worst enemy. I want to prevent this." The Hokage said.

Kurenai and Asuma nodded. They didn't want to imagine what Naruto could do if he let loose with Kyubi's power.

"Is there a risk he would use **that **power?" Asuma asked.

"He wouldn't need to. He has other ways. And he doesn't know yet how to use it. But the fox could use his negative emotions if they get too strong for Naruto to deal with them." The Hokage said seriously.

He didn't want to have to kill Naruto to protect the village. At the moment the boy was still loyal and there was a good chance to keep him that way if Kakashi succeeded. And Kakashi needed to get ready to take over the Hokage position if necessary. If Kakashi managed to bond with Naruto and became his successor, Naruto would still stay loyal after he retired or died. He had already written down his intention to make Kakashi his successor. He wanted to discuss it with Jiraiya first, but he didn't really see any way that his student would take the position. He would support Kakashi though.

* * *

**Till in two weeks.**


	6. Harsh Training

**Hi, here is the next chapter, happy reading.**

* * *

**Harsh Training**

Team seven was present at their training ground at six like Kakashi had asked. When five minutes past six Kakashi hadn't appeared, Naruto started jogging around the training ground.

"Naruto you idiot, what are you doing?" Sakura yelled.

Naruto just shot a senbon at her to shut her up. It hit and she wasn't fast enough to pull it out before the poison started working. Sakura stood again paralysed in the spot she had been. Naruto kept running. After ten laps, he started stretching. Just when he wanted to start with strength exercises Kakashi appeared in a cloud of smoke. Sakura was freed from the paralysing poison and wanted to hit Naruto.

"Sakura stop it. Sasuke, report what happened." Kakashi ordered.

"At five past six, Naruto started running around the field, Sakura shouted at him what he was doing, Naruto hit her with one of his senbons that are coated in a paralysing poison again and he continued his exercises. He just finished stretching and Sakura got over the effect of the poison when you appeared." Sasuke said.

"I see. Sakura, what reason did you have for shouting at Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"He is just trying to make himself look better than Sasuke. And he should have waited for you to tell us what we should do." She accused Naruto.

"Naruto, what do you have to say?" Kakashi asked.

"I have sensitive hearing and warned her several times now that I won't take her screeching anymore. She is a kunoichi and should behave like that if she doesn't want to be killed on a mission. And the poison just paralyses her for some minutes. This type had duration of ten minutes. I was doing general warm-up exercises to use the time until you came efficiently. Nothing more than running and stretching. I would have continued with push-ups if you hadn't appeared." Naruto said.

"I see. Sakura, work on your attitude. There is no reason to yell at your team-mate for doing a warm-up to breach time. There are some reasons I won't be on time sometimes, so I expect you to do something useful while I take care of other things. You are considered adults since you became ninja, so behave like that. You can't expect that everything will be told to you. I don't care what you do while you wait for me, as long as it helps with your development as a ninja. But while waiting for physical training to begin, warming up is the most logical choice. Naruto, please refrain from paralysing your team-mates, you can never know what will happen. If there would have been an attack, she wouldn't have been able to defend herself and you and Sasuke would have had to cover her until your poison wore off." Kakashi said sternly.

In his head he cursed the mess the civilian council had left for him to clear up. He would really like to introduce them to his thousand years of death technique, especially Sakura's mother.

"Understood, sensei." Naruto said, accepting Kakashi's reasons even if in the village the probability of an attack was pretty slim. He thought Kakashi was capable of faking an attack just to get his point across.

"Good, now the first thing we will work on is your stamina. Our team has a focus on combat. Therefore you will have to be able to last in a fight. We will start with running fifteen laps around the training ground. I will take your time to see where you stand in your training. Today I will mainly get an impression of your physical abilities before we will work on some formations for missions. Ready, set, go." Kakashi said and the three started.

Soon it was obvious that Naruto was way better trained than the other two, even if Sasuke did a good job for a rookie. Sakura was panting after three rounds already. Naruto finished with two rounds on Sasuke. The proud Uchiha didn't like the lead Naruto had and increased his speed for the last two rounds. Then he sat down next to Naruto waiting for Sakura to finish.

"I would advise you to do some stretching while you wait." Naruto said to Sasuke.

Sasuke's first instinct was to tell Naruto off, but the blond was already doing his own exercises again. He had to admit it would be a good filling of time and from what Kakashi had told them just a bit earlier he expected them to fill spare time during training efficiently. So he started with the stretching. Finally five rounds after Sasuke had finished his laps, Sakura was done. She fell on her knees panting.

"Hm, we really need to work on your stamina Sakura. A graduate like you should be able to easily run fifteen laps for warming up. Get to stretching for five minutes, then we will do the next exercise." Kakashi said, shaking his head.

He looked at Naruto and Sasuke who were doing strength exercises.

"Good performance you two. Sasuke, Naruto; how many repetitions of your exercises are you doing at the moment?" He asked.

"Fifty of each, Kakashi sensei." Sasuke answered, glad he had taken Naruto's advice. Perhaps the blond really knew what he did.

"Hundred of each, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said.

"Good. That's a good level for your current levels. Sasuke, we will work over the next months to get you to the same level Naruto is right now. For a fresh graduate you are doing really well. Don't try to overdo it too fast just to catch up with Naruto. He has trained harder and more than you in the past, that is all there is to it. If you keep up your work like you do at the moment, you will get there soon enough." Kakashi said.

Sasuke didn't understand it. How could Naruto have trained more than him? He trained three hours each day after the academy. How would Naruto be able to top that? But Kakashi seemed to see his potential, so he must have done something right, just what had Naruto done better than him? And how did he hide it?

"I trained from six every morning to nine in the evening. I sent a shadow clone to the theoretical lessons in the academy to take my place after I learned that jutsu. That's the time advantage I had on you." Naruto said seeing Sasuke's look.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"You wondered how I managed to train more than you. That's the answer." Naruto said and changed his exercise.

Sasuke really wondered about his team-mate. He didn't hide his dislike for both him and Sakura, but he still gave him useful information. He didn't understand.

Kakashi watched the exchange. He was glad that Naruto at least talked to Sasuke professionally. He had no illusions that the boys could ever become friends. It would need a miracle to achieve that. But a healthy working attitude would be enough for him. Perhaps Naruto knew that too. They were worse than him and Obito had been. And they had more emotional scars from the past than him and Obito had had. And Sakura was nothing like Rin, who had moderated between them.

* * *

Sakura was finished with her stretching exercises. Kakashi knew she wouldn't keep up if he didn't give her a short break, so he decided he would hold a short quiz about optimising their training.

"Good, now that you are all warmed up, we will have a few things cleared before we start with the next part. Who can tell me what is the most important thing for a ninja to do besides training right to get strong?" He asked.

Sakura raised her hand.

"We aren't at the academy. You don't need to raise your hand anymore, Sakura." Kakashi informed her.

"Oh, okay, Kakashi sensei. The most important thing is learning about theory. Politics, geography, strategy and the like." She answered.

"That's good to know but not the most important thing." Kakashi said.

Sakura was shocked, that had always been the most important thing at the academy. The academics.

"A balanced diet." Sasuke answered.

"Correct, why?" Kakashi asked.

"Our bodies need certain nutrients to give us the energy for training and to build up muscles. With too little food or the wrong kind of food we are hindering our development. We need carbohydrates, fats and proteins, vitamins and water to have our bodies work properly." Naruto continued.

"Exactly. So what would be the worst thing for a ninja to do?" He asked.

"Dieting." Sasuke answered.

"But how would one keep their figure if they don't diet?" Sakura protested. She was on a diet after all to impress Sasuke with her figure.

The male members of the team looked at her as if she was stupid.

"Ninjas don't need to diet because we work out all the time. We burn so much energy over the day that we need to eat a lot more than civilians. Where a normal working civilian would do well to keep his figure with about two thousand calories a ninja needs at least three thousand five hundred with my understanding of normal training. You don't have to fear becoming fat with our training, I can guarantee that." Kakashi said. "Additionally you hurt yourself if you diet at your age."

Sakura needed some time to process that.

"Kakashi sensei, are we going to learn how to hunt and fish? The academy mentioned that on longer missions ninjas should know how to properly get at least proteins. But we were never taught how to hunt or fish." Sasuke asked.

"Yes, that will be part of our training, Sasuke. You will also learn about all the edible plants in Fire Country and the neighbour countries." Kakashi answered.

"Okay, enough of a break. Next I will test your speed. You will go over to the other side of the field and then sprint back to the posts here." Kakashi ordered and made a shadow clone to accompany them to give the start signals.

Once they were in the other side, Kakashi let Sakura run first. She raced to the other side a bit faster than a trained civilian. Then Sasuke started, way faster than Sakura. Last was Naruto.

"Should I use my real speed, Kakashi sensei?" He asked.

"Yes. They need to know that you aren't a pushover. But leave your resistance seals activated. I don't want to make Sasuke more jealous than necessary."

"How did you know that I wear resistance seals? I didn't even tell old man Hokage about them." Naruto asked.

"You forget that your father was my sensei. He had all of us use them." Kakashi said. "Go." He ordered and Naruto ran. He was nearly double as fast as Sasuke.

Sakura fumed. How did the dead last dare to show up her Sasuke like that?

"You cheated, Naruto." She accused him.

"There is no cheating with ninjas, Sakura. Cheating as you call it is part of our jobs, get used to it. And Naruto didn't even strengthen his muscles with chakra or he would have been even faster." Kakashi admonished her. "Don't accuse your team-mates for something that is normal in the ninja world."

Sasuke seemed to ring with himself. How could he get the same strength as Naruto? He was an elite, he should be stronger than Naruto. Was it really only the additional training Naruto had done?

"Okay, I guess you are wondering how Naruto can be this fast." Kakashi addressed Sasuke and Sakura.

Both nodded.

"He has trained using resistance seals. Don't confuse them with gravity or weight seals, they work differently. A resistance seal does like its name say increase the resistance a body is confronted with. On the first level it feels like you are wading through water. With each additional level it gets harder. Using these seals helps you building up speed and strength. I will place those seals on both of you tomorrow morning before we start our training. They will stay activated the whole day, even when you sleep for two weeks. Then we will train with them deactivated to get you used to the effects. But that's for a later time." Kakashi explained.

Sasuke nodded. So he would catch up over time. It seemed Kakashi really intended to make him stronger. This training was much better and harder than the one the academy had them do. Sakura was scared. How would she manage to stay a proper lady with the training her sensei planned to have them do? And why was Naruto already that much ahead?

"Okay, next part is coordination. Naruto I would like your assistance." Kakashi took out a scroll from his pocket and opened it. He unsealed about a hundred poles. "Have your shadow clones place them in three lines with a distance of a metre between the poles. The lines are to be ten metres next to each other." Kakashi ordered.

Naruto nodded and made twenty shadow clones that took the poles and placed them in lines.

"I want you to run slalom through the poles three times over to the other side and back. I will take your times. Ready, set, go." He said and the three ran again.

Kakashi had them do fifty push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, jumping jacks and lifting weights each next. Then he let them walk on their hands through the slalom course. He wrote down all their times. Finally he declared it enough, much to the relief of Sakura.

"Okay, this is what we will be doing every day for warm up. As running around the training ground isn't that interesting I want you all to meet at the gate at six each morning to run two laps around the village. That's only for the beginning though, we will increase the laps once you get better stamina. After that we will start with stretching and strength exercises. Sakura, you will do thirty of all the exercises we did today. Sasuke, you will do fifty, Naruto eighty. That should take you about the same time. If one of you still has time until Naruto is finished, add a few repeats. After that I will tell you the exercise for the day." Kakashi said.

Sakura looked ill, Naruto and Sasuke happy. That would be good training.

"Okay, I told you we would work on formations after our workout. We will go through different situations, I will tell you the standard formations and then you will practice them." Kakashi instructed them.

It was lunchtime and Sakura lay on the ground groaning. This was not what she had expected from training. Kakashi handed out lunch to them and gave them bottles with water in which vitamins had been added. Naruto and Sasuke started eating and drank their water without comment. Sakura finally managed to push herself up. She didn't care about her diet at the moment. She was hungry and needed to eat something. She looked at the lunchbox and saw that there were some rice balls, some grilled fish, some green beans and tomatoes.

"Okay, while you eat, I want to give you some instructions for your meals. For breakfast, eat enough to last you five hours, but make sure it is balanced. For the drink take milk, cereals are good, some dark bread, cheese, sausage, eggs, and fruits. I will provide you with lunch to make sure you get enough nutrients for the first week, after that you should have an idea what to pack in your lunchboxes and how much. For dinner, meat and fish are always good, some noodles, rice, vegetables. You can also have sweet desserts, it won't matter if you eat sweets as I said, you will work the calories off no problem.

"Go to bed early enough, because you will have to get up at five to get ready for training and eat breakfast without haste. Bring some snacks for short breaks with you. I recommend fruit or vegetables, some sandwiches or rice balls. They are meant to give you back some energy without being heavy." Kakashi lectured.

He would do this correctly. And from tomorrow on he would join his team in their exercises. If he needed to get back to his old strength and increase it, he would have to use the time. He expected to be back to full strength in three months. Then he could work on getting better.

* * *

Once his genin had eaten, he gave them half an hour off to relax. They could do whatever they wanted. He knew Sasuke and Sakura needed the recovery time. Naruto would probably be able to go on. Sakura seemed relieved about the break, Sasuke accepted it well enough and Naruto lay down to take a nap.

Kakashi led his team to a group of trees that had nearly the same height.

"Okay, as I told you, one of the first exercises a genin has to learn is climbing vertical surfaces. Here in Konoha we do this by tree-climbing. This exercise has a double benefit. For those with bigger chakra reserves like Naruto and Sasuke it mainly helps them learn how to better control their chakra next to the ability to climb all surfaces without problem. The better you control your chakra, the less chakra you waste using your jutsu, which means you can go longer in a fight and use more jutsu. For somebody with small reserves like Sakura this is also an endurance exercise. By repeatedly doing this exercise until you master it, you build up your reserves, which will also lead to you being able to keep going longer." Kakashi explained and then walked up the tree without using his hands.

"As you see, I am sending my chakra to my feet. Finding the right amount of chakra is important; if you use too little chakra, you don't stick, if you use too much you will be repelled." He took out three kunai and threw then at his genin.

"You will mark your progress with these kunai. Naruto, make four clones and place them around the tree you are working on." Kakashi instructed.

Naruto wondered what Kakashi had thought up, but made the clones. Kakashi walked down the tree again.

"For the beginning it would be easiest if you took a running start. Now, Naruto, your clones have the job to try and keep you from reaching the top. I know that you already know this exercise, so we will make it harder for you by having your clones trying to hit you with some of your senbons." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded. He had already done the exercise with his clones throwing rubber balls and stones. Senbons would help him be even more motivated. And it wasn't like he wouldn't heal fast if he was hit.

Sasuke was the first to take a running start. He got up some steps, then he was blown back. Sakura reached a branch high up in her first try.

"This is easy, Kakashi sensei." She announced.

"Well done, Sakura, but I said that it will be an endurance exercise for you. You will run to the top of your tree and down for as long as you can. Once you can't keep it up anymore, take five minutes break and then start again." Kakashi told her.

Sakura gulped. She never had had to train this hard before. But she wanted to impress Sasuke and this exercise could be one she could do well. So she started running to the top, then back down. She had to pause on the ground shortly. This was harder than it first seemed. Then she had to run up and down again.

Sasuke had some problems too. He was blown away at a certain height all the time. He was getting more and more frustrated. Especially as in the tree next to him Naruto was showing great skills in the exercise already and was dodging the senbons his clones threw at him while still keeping the tree-walking up.

"Sasuke, you have to concentrate and keep your calm. Your chakra is influenced by your emotions. So if you are getting angry, it will be harder to practice control." Kakashi said.

Sasuke after he had been blown off again, tried to follow his sensei's instructions. He took some deep breaths to calm down. He concentrated his chakra to his feet. Then he ran at the tree again. He passed his former mark by seven feet before he was blown away again. He grinned, okay, that was the trick. He had to gain control over his emotions and his chakra. He looked over to Sakura, who was sweating and breathing hard, hunched over. She really had little stamina.

* * *

**That's it for this week. Thanks to all of you that left a review and the ones that put the story on their favourites list. It's great to see how many follow my stories.**


	7. Results of the First Day of Training

**Hi everybody. Here is the next chapter. Thanks to all those that left reviews and those that simply read the story without leaving one (even if I would have liked one) that favoured it.**

**Happy reading now.**

* * *

**Results of the First Day of Training**

That evening Kakashi dismissed his genin team at six and reminded them that he would place the resistance seals on Sasuke and Sakura tomorrow and therefore they were meeting at training ground three before they would start their laps around the village. Naruto left first to go home. He wanted to work on a seal. Sasuke also walked home, feeling the effects of the hard training he had done over the day. He had to say he was pleased with how the training had gone. True, Naruto was better than him at the moment, but he would catch up. It was only a question of the right training. He felt he was now finally getting closer to Itachi. And he would endure all the hard training Kakashi could throw at him if it got him strong enough to kill Itachi.

Sakura felt dead tired. She had never before done that kind of training. She thought Kakashi sensei was a sadist. How the hell could the boys stand this? Well, Naruto was a freak, her mother had always told her that and Sasuke was Sasuke. It was normal that he was better than all others. When she reached her home she remembered what Kakashi had told them about eating right. She would eat something tonight. But she would also make sure it wouldn't make her fat. She wasn't convinced that a ninja could eat all he wanted.

"Hello Sakura how was your day?" Her mother asked.

"Strenuous. Please, I need something to eat." She answered.

"Sweetie, aren't you on a diet to impress Uchiha Sama?" Her mother asked frowning.

"Kakashi sensei forbid me to diet and told me that ninja wouldn't get fat with all the training they do. I am not completely sure about that though, but if we are training like today all the days, I have to eat more than before. Can I have some salad and fruit?" She asked.

Her mother contently nodded. Salad and fruit didn't have a lot of calories. That jonin didn't seem to understand the principles of getting a good husband. But what could be expected from a man? She took to cutting salad, cucumber and tomatoes and prepared a bit of dressing for her daughter.

"Here, Sweetie, there you are. A nice salad to fill your stomach but which won't make you fat." She said smiling.

"Thanks, Mum." Sakura said and began eating.

"So what did you do for training?" Her mother asked.

"Kakashi sensei tested our physical abilities today. Of course Sasuke was great. He was so much better than me. We had to run fifteen laps around the training ground, then we had to sprint from one side of the ground to the other. A slalom through poles sets of fifty repeats for different exercises. Then we got a lecture on the right diet for a ninja. Can you believe that Kakashi sensei thinks a ninja should eat three thousand five hundred calories a day?" Sakura asked.

"What? But that will make you fat. There is no way you could keep a good figure to impress Sasuke Sama if you ate that much." Her mother was scandalized.

"I know. But he seemed serious. For the next week Kakashi sensei will provide our lunch so we can get an idea what we should pack, he said. We are to bring snacks for morning and afternoon breaks. Something like fruit, sandwiches, riceballs or vegetables. And a lot to drink. He also recommended eating meat and fish, I think he said for building muscles." Sakura reported.

"But that would make you look ugly. What self-respecting woman would want to look like a muscle mountain?" Sakura's mother asked.

"I don't know, but obviously both Sasuke and Naruto agreed with Kakashi." Sakura sighed.

"Naruto? He is your second team-mate?" Her mother asked worried.

"Yes. But he is such a nuisance. He is mean to me and disrespects Sasuke. Just because I told him off for starting to train without Kakashi sensei being there he shot me with a senbon with one of his paralysing poisons. I couldn't move for ten minutes." Sakura complained.

"He poisoned you? I will take care of that. I won't allow for that freak to harm my daughter." Sakura's mother screeched.

Sakura nodded. Naruto would see what happened if you treated her badly. After all, her mother was on the civilian council.

"Okay, when do you have to be at your training ground tomorrow?" Her mother asked.

"At six." Sakura said.

"He even takes your beauty sleep away. If you weren't on Sasuke Sama's team and therefore in the best position to win him as your husband, I would demand for you to be put on another team, but you will just have to persevere and show Sasuke that you are the only suited girl for him." She said.

"Don't worry, Mum. I will win him and then I will become Mrs Sakura Uchiha once we are old enough." Sakura said dreamily.

"That's my girl." Her mother said proudly.

* * *

The next morning at ten, Isami Haruno walked to the meeting room of the civilian council and told that her daughter had been poisoned by the demon. Of course all the other councillors were enraged and thought they now finally had something to get the demon for. They had an ANBU that listened to them sent out so that Naruto was called in.

At training ground three team seven was again going through physical training, this time Kakashi was doing his own exercises at the side of his team. Then an ANBU appeared. Kakashi looked up and asked the ANBU what he wanted.

"Naruto Uzumaki is to immediately appear at the Hokage Tower on orders of the council." The ANBU informed Kakashi.

"You say the council gave this order?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Kakashi." The ANBU confirmed.

"He has training now and if you don't have orders from the Hokage I won't let him leave his training. When you have orders from the Hokage come back." Kakashi said and went back to his exercises.

The ANBU looked at Kakashi as if he was from another planet, but he also knew that the ex-ANBU wouldn't budge on his opinion. And as the demon brat's sensei he had the power to forbid the brat to leave his training. The ANBU decided it would be best to return to the council to report.

* * *

In the meeting room the council was preparing to rip the demon apart, but the only one returning was the ANBU they had sent.

"Where is the … boy?" Isami asked.

"He won't come. Kakashi Hatake gave me the message that he would only let his student leave his training if you had orders from the Hokage. Otherwise his student would stay with him to train." The ANBU said.

"How dare he?" Ginbi Renihara asked enraged. He was a wealthy merchant.

"We are the council, we deserve respect." Wakata Teiji said.

"Who does he think he is? I will get that order from the Hokage. Just he waits." Isami said and stormed to the Hokage's office.

* * *

The Hokage was working on his paperwork; questioning himself how it always was so much paperwork he had to do. But he couldn't delegate it either because the council would try to pass laws that were only meant to increase their wealth or screw Naruto over. Then Isami Haruno stormed into his office. He would have to remind her who ruled the village.

"Hokage Sama, I demand that the … boy and his sensei are called in. The brat poisoned my daughter yesterday, but when we sent him a messenger to call him before the council, his sensei refused to let him go. He said he would only allow it if you gave the order." She ranted loudly.

"Councillor Haruno, you want to tell me that you think you can command me?" He asked dangerously.

"No, Hokage Sama, of course not, but he poisoned my daughter." She said, realizing she had made a mistake by just charging into the office.

"Do you think you have more power over my ninja than me?" The Hokage asked again.

"No, Hokage Sama." She answered.

"Then why do you think you can use the ANBU **guard** the civilian council got as a messenger to command one of my ninja? If you want to question one of my ninja, you will first inform me of the supposed crime said ninja committed. Then **I** will decide if an order to appear here is justified. Do you understand?" He asked icily.

"Yes, Hokage Sama." She answered intimidated.

"Good. And your so called poisoning of your daughter was a paralysing agent that only worked for ten minutes. Kakashi already took care to solve the issue yesterday and reported to me what he did to prevent such an incident in the future. Make no mistakes; I know what you tried to do. This is your last warning. Stop sabotaging Naruto Uzumaki or you will regret it. Naruto is a ninja under my command and therefore you have no control over him anymore. Leave my office, I have to work." The Hokage dismissed her.

When she had fled his office, he called Cat, one of his ANBUs.

"Cat, fetch me all the ANBU that are tasked with guarding the civilian council." He ordered.

"Yes, Hokage Sama." Cat answered and vanished.

Five minutes later the ten ANBU that rotated to guard the civilian council knelt before the Hokage.

"Which one of you was on guard duty for the civilian council today?" The Hokage asked.

"I was, Hokage Sama." Lizard answered.

"Good, then please explain me, Lizard, why would you leave your post to play messenger for the council?" The Hokage asked.

"They ordered me to fetch Naruto Uzumaki for questioning because he poisoned the daughter of councillor Haruno." Lizard answered.

"Lizard, do you know the chain of command?" The Hokage asked the obviously stupid ANBU.

"Of course, Hokage Sama." Lizard said, not knowing what this was about. Others started seeing what the Hokage was up to.

"Then please inform me where in that chain the civilian council ranks." The Hokage asked.

"The council is directly under the Hokage." Lizard answered.

"Cat, please inform this stupid moron of the true chain of command." The Hokage said, angrily.

"The civilian council is nowhere in the chain of command. The only part of the council that has commanding power is the ninja council. They rank under the Hokage, the jonin commander and the ANBU commander, meaning they would be in fourth rank of the chain of command, but only in times where the Hokage is absent from the village or in no condition to command the forces. Which would be in case of a severe illness or death. In case of an illness, the normal ninjas are under the command of the jonin commander, which at the moment is Shikaku Nara, the ANBU are under the command of the ANBU commander, which is me. The ninja council is only consulted in case both jonin commander and ANBU commander need more authority to get something done." Cat told them.

"Thank you Cat. So, get it in your brains that the civilian council has no power to command any of my ninja. The only other orders you are to follow are those of Cat or if he isn't available too, the ninja council. I thought my ANBU would know that. So you will only guard the civilian council from the shadows and only one ANBU at a time. You won't make contact and won't follow any of their orders. Am I understood?" The Hokage said.

"Yes, Hokage Sama." The ANBU answered.

"Dismissed." The Hokage said and the ANBU vanished.

The Hokage rubbed his temples. This shouldn't even be an issue. He really needed to clean this mess up as soon as possible.

* * *

Isami returned to the meeting room and told her fellow councillors the reaction of the Hokage. They were enraged, but realized there was nothing they could do at the moment. The Hokage had the power to deny them their request and could delegate the punishment of one of his ninjas, especially a genin, to said genin's jonin sensei. And going up against Kakashi Hatake wasn't a smart thing to do. But they had thought Kakashi would listen to their orders, after all he had followed them and passed his team.

* * *

Sakura felt like her legs were made of lead. She couldn't feel them anymore. The resistance seal Kakashi sensei had placed on her first thing in the morning was horrible. She felt like she couldn't move at all. This was not like wading through water, this was much harder. Thankfully they had a break now. She couldn't take another step.

Sasuke was tired. The resistance seals were the real deal. No wonder that Naruto had become strong using them. But now that he was also using them, he would become that strong as well. It would take some time, but he knew the prize was worth it. He was getting closer to Itachi. He looked at his team-mates and his sensei. Naruto didn't look any more tired than normal. But he was already used to working with this kind of seal. Kakashi of course was also doing well. He had been surprised that his sensei had joined them doing the exercises, but also pleased. It felt like they were all comrades to him, not only subordinates he had to train. Of course Kakashi's training program was harder than theirs, but it was something to strive to get to.

The worst part of the day was the morning run. He had felt so damnable slow with the seal. Especially when Kakashi and Naruto ran more laps than him and Sakura. He had been jealous of Naruto again, but he swallowed his feelings and told himself he would soon enough surpass his blond team-mate. And Naruto had even told him the key to learn using the seals faster. You had to strengthen your muscles with chakra. Once it felt normal again if you used chakra, you had to reduce the amount of chakra to get the same effect on your own. Well, except if you didn't train, then it would be best to just train your muscles without chakra. With the seals staying active for the next two weeks he would see if that was true.

"Okay, that was enough of a break. Next part of our training is teamwork." Kakashi said.

"How are we going to do this, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"We will do several exercises that will teach you to trust your team-mates." Kakashi said.

He took out two scarves and handed them to Sakura and Naruto.

"Tie them around your eyes." He instructed them.

They did. Kakashi handed Sasuke a piece of wood and a small metal bar. Then he prepared some obstacles in a small round course.

"The intention of this test is to lead your team-mates safely through the course, only using Morse-code. You learned the code at the academy. Now, you will morse them where to go, what to be aware of and so on. The only possibility they have to finish the course is following your instructions. No talking at all." Kakashi said. "We will start with Naruto, then Sakura. Once you are finished, we will change places, I will change the course and we will repeat it until each of you went through the course twice and led the others once." Kakashi said.

Sasuke nodded. He took the wood and the metal bar and began drumming his message to lead Naruto. It was harder than he thought it would be. He had to remember all the commands. And morsing words like left, right, forward, stop and so on took more time than he thought they would. Thankfully Naruto seemed to know the Morse code well enough to follow his commands without problem. Finally Naruto was done. Now it was Sakura's turn. Sasuke began drumming again. Naruto took off his scarf and watched how Sakura fared. He had noticed some problems while he was in the course and now by watching Sakura, the problems seemed even stronger. They needed shorter signals that weren't normal Morse code.

Especially as remembering all the Morse signals was a problem if you were pressed for time, which he guessed would be the next thing Kakashi would have them do. So he went through the Morse signals and decided what would be proper short signals to work with. Finally Sakura, after misinterpreting the signals Sasuke gave her twice, was done with the course.

"Okay, next Sakura will give the signals and Naruto and Sasuke will do the course." Kakashi announced and Sakura handed her scarf to Sasuke, blushing.

Sasuke just took the scarf and tied it around his head, Naruto put his back on. Kakashi changed the course and now Sakura was trying to get Sasuke through the course, which was a lot worse than the two tries Sasuke had with morsing. Sasuke ran into stones, tripped over logs, went too far to the left once, because Sakura wasn't fast enough with her signals. When Sasuke was finally finished, he was cursing. Naruto then went into the course and after hitting a log he always waited for Sakura to finish her signals. Once he heard new signals he stopped to process the new information. It took horribly long, but he avoided further problems that way.

"Next is Naruto morsing." Kakashi said.

"Sasuke, Sakura, I will use four signals outside the normal Morse code. Four long signals mean left, four short ones mean right. One short and one long signal mean forward. One long and one short means back and one short signal, which will be louder than the rest means stop. The others I will morse with normal Morse code." He explained them.

Sasuke nodded. After the disaster with Sakura leading him that was sensible. Sakura grudgingly also nodded. She had hated being the worst in a discipline she should have been good at. But she hadn't thought to practice Morse code much in the academy. It was after all such an overcome method to send messages and everybody could overhear them.

Sakura was the first to go through the changed course now. Naruto's idea to shorten the commands was working well. She managed to get through the course with only making a mistake once and then the stop signal prevented something happening. Sasuke then went through the course and was happy to notice that with Naruto giving the signals he didn't get hit by obstacles once. He also noticed that he had to get used to differentiating left and right first as they were so similar. When he came out of the course, he took off the scarf and turned to Naruto.

"Your idea with shortening the signals worked well, but we should think of two signals that are more different from each other for left and right. A different number of signals would be best. In the beginning it was a bit confusing to recognise short and long signals." Sasuke informed Naruto.

"Okay, that makes sense. Perhaps left two short signals and right four short signals. As we stop after that signal it can't be thought to be a complete message anyway, so it doesn't matter if it is also the signal for a letter." Naruto admitted.

"Good, now I want to discuss the things you learned with this exercise." Kakashi said, having his team sit down.

"We had to always concentrate to get the signals of the one morsing. And with the shorter signals it was easier to get it." Sakura said.

"It takes practice to react accordingly to the signals. You can't rely on your own senses that much, as we normally rely on our eyes to navigate." Sasuke said.

"Wrong signals can be dangerous. If a signal is too long and not correct we hit the obstacles. Sometimes it was safer to go slowly than to hit something." Naruto said.

"All those are correct. This exercise teaches you to always find the best possible way to fulfil an exercise. As you noticed the shorter signals were easier to process. But even if you shorten them, you need to make them different enough to not get confused. We will practice with Morse signals in the future. I want you to make sure you are fluent in the signals the day after tomorrow. So if you are still a bit out of practice, I suggest you use the breaks tomorrow to read up on the code. Okay, now we will do something more physical again. Naruto, I need twenty shadow clones." Kakashi said.

Naruto made the clones.

"You really are abusing my ability to make them, sensei." Naruto grumbled a bit.

"Well, tough luck. A ninja needs to use everything he has at his disposal and for me that means sometimes using your shadow clone jutsu to get the necessary number of opponents for training exercises. And you know you don't even feel the drain of twenty clones." Kakashi said. "Okay. We are practising dodging projectiles now. I will demonstrate it. Naruto, have your clones throw those rubber balls on me." Kakashi said pointing at two bags full of red rubber balls the size of golf balls.

"Gladly, sensei." Naruto said with a grin.

The clones took position around Kakashi.

"You can start in twenty seconds and keep it up for five minutes straight." Kakashi told the clones.

They nodded and waited until the twenty seconds were up. Then they started pelting Kakashi with the balls. Kakashi dodged, jumped, deflected and spun out of the way of the balls. The only place on his body the balls ever hit was his hands. Then the five minutes were over.

"That's the exercise. You're only allowed to have the balls hit you on your hands to deflect them. In a fight you only have the possibility to deflect weapons that are thrown at you with kunai in your hands or by intercepting them with your own weapons. That will be part of a later exercise. For now, we'll only work on dodging and deflecting in a limited area. As you aren't as used to this kind of exercise as I am, you'll work with ten shadow clones throwing balls at you each." Kakashi said. Naruto made ten more clones.

Then the clones spread to surround the three genin. Naruto was used to doing this with higher numbers of clones, but it wouldn't be good to inform his team-mates of that fact yet. Kakashi gave the signal to start and had his genin practice dodging.

* * *

In the evening at eight Kakashi dismissed his team. He had had Sasuke and Sakura continue their tree-climbing while he took Naruto and played shogi with him. He was pleasantly surprised how well Naruto did with the strategy game. In the end Kakashi managed to win, but the game was pretty evenly matched. Kakashi walked towards the Hokage Tower to hand in his report for the day and to ask the Hokage about the incident with the civilian council calling Naruto in.

He reached the office and knocked at the door. The Hokage, still working despite the late hour, called him in.

"Ah, Kakashi. You had your team train long today." The Hokage noticed.

"Yes, Hokage Sama. I think it's best for now to keep them busy. And it seems Sasuke is happy enough to train the whole day. I have the impression he didn't feel challenged enough at the academy. Naruto will take some time to warm up to me, but he is doing well so far. Today I played shogi with him while I had Sasuke and Sakura practice tree climbing. He is quite good in the game. I think he was really surprised when I told him that we would play shogi while the other two did their exercise. By the way, the civilian council sent an ANBU to us, calling Naruto to the council. I refused to follow the order, but you should take care of that." Kakashi said.

"I already did and put them in their place. I think they will still try to get rid of Naruto in the future, but the ANBU have already been reminded that I am the one who gives orders in the village. Cat is having an eye on the ANBU now to make sure they won't follow the council's orders anymore. I have called Shikaku to have him brief the normal forces on the issue." The Hokage informed Kakashi.

"That's good to know. It's high time the council was reminded of their real power and not the one they think they have." Kakashi agreed.

"Yes. I wish I could do more, but somehow the amount of paperwork I get doesn't let me." He complained.

Kakashi had an idea. After seeing Naruto using the jutsu so much, he thought it would also help the Hokage.

"Why don't you use shadow clones? I mean, I know that Naruto used them for his training and I have to admit I am abusing his ability to make them for training the others as well. With the memory transfer they would be perfect to help you get the paperwork done much faster." Kakashi suggested.

"Shadow clones?" The Hokage said shocked. "Damn it, why didn't I think of that earlier? That must be the secret how Minato always managed to get it done so fast." He raged.

"Well, sensei did use that jutsu for many things." Kakashi admitted.

"From tomorrow on I will use it. I'm done for today. Screw the paperwork." The Hokage declared.

Kakashi sweat dropped. Perhaps it would be best to just leave the Hokage now. He didn't seem to be that sane at the moment judging by the insane laugh he was sporting now.

* * *

**That's it for this time. Next chapter will come up in two weeks again and then you will see what the Hokage discovers. Till then.**


	8. The Hokage Gets Serious

**Here is the bi-weekly update of Dark Phoenix. Let's see how Sakura takes to working on D-ranks. Thanks for all your reviews, I'm really happy about the number I got. Happy reading.**

* * *

**The Hokage Gets Serious**

The next day at nine the Hokage arrived at his office, seeing that new amounts of paperwork had been placed on his desk. He grinned evilly and made two shadow clones and now three Sandaime Hokages were sorting through the paperwork. What he found enraged him. Before he hadn't really noticed just how many useless documents he got on his desk. This looked like a conspiracy. After two hours he was sure. Many of those decrees the civilian council wanted to have signed were only meant to increase their wealth and didn't help the village as a whole. Some that were slipped into his mountain of work were outright attempts to legally abuse Naruto. Like the hot springs requesting to be able to deny people they think unsuited to use the premises entry. Or the grocers asking to set taxes for their goods themselves. No, this would stop.

The problem was that he had lost insight what was really happening in the village. But who could know the real circumstances? He had a second look at the documents that were the fishiest. He would have to check the laws and decrees that had already been passed without him really noticing. Then he had an idea. It would be a bit risky, but he would have the information he needed.

"Crow, get me elder Danzo Shimura here." The Hokage ordered.

Crow vanished from his post and ten minutes later it knocked at the door.

"Enter." The Hokage said.

Danzo walked in, using his cane.

"You called me, Hokage Sama?" Danzo asked.

"Yes, thanks for coming so promptly, Danzo. I have some things to discuss with you." The Hokage said and activated the privacy seals.

Danzo wondered what had happened to have Hiruzen so serious. Did he find out about his ROOT? Improbable. He had erased his traces very well. So what could he want?

"Please take a seat, this will take some time." The Hokage said and Danzo sat down.

"Just this morning I came upon a serious problem with the finances of the village. It seems that thanks to the amounts of paperwork I have to deal with daily, some decrees that deprive the village of funds have been passed. Sadly I don't know yet how much money was … displaced … that way. We both know that the strength of our military depends on the proper funds. I have some suspicions where the funds went, but I need to investigate this without the culprits finding out about it. That's where you come in. I want you to take your ROOT and find all the dirt the ones that embezzle our funds have hidden." The Hokage said.

"You know that you ordered me to disband ROOT years ago, Hiruzen." Danzo said, now dropping the honorifics.

"And we both know that you ignored that order and only took your ninja and went underground. Don't think I am stupid Danzo. I let you get away with it, because you and your ROOT are useful for the village. As long as I officially disbanded you, nobody could say anything against it. And if your training methods wouldn't be so despicable, I wouldn't even have had to do it. But we always differed in our opinions there. Nonetheless. Your ROOT are a part of the military of Konoha. A well hidden part, but it is still financed by the village."

Danzo kept quiet. He wouldn't have thought that Hiruzen had known all the time. It seemed he had underestimated his old rival.

"What do you intend to do now?" He asked.

"Oh, as long as you follow my orders, nothing. As I said, you are useful. But if you go against me, I will end you. Simple as that." The Hokage told Danzo.

"Why now of all times, Hiruzen? What has changed?" Danzo asked.

"We both know that I am too old to be Hokage. I wanted to retire long ago and thought that with Minato leading the village the village would be strong and still retain the will of fire. Sadly he died sealing the Kyubi away. I didn't really want to take back the hat, but did it because I saw it as my duty to protect the village. The same is true for you; you are the same age as I am. We both are not really suitable candidates for the position. We should only enjoy our retirement and give advice to the younger generation. But we both have still a duty we are fulfilling. I have called back Jiraiya to discuss with him my choice of successor." The Hokage informed Danzo.

"You want to make Jiraiya your successor?" Danzo asked disbelievingly. "Do you think that is wise? While he is strong enough to take the position, I don't think he would be a good administrator."

"No, Jiraiya wouldn't even want to be Hokage. And it would be a shame to let his spy network go to waste. I had considered Tsunade, but with her dislike for the village because of her losses in the past, I doubt she would return, even if she would be the best choice. No, I called Jiraiya back to get his opinion on the candidate I chose." The Hokage said.

"Are you going to tell me who you chose?" Danzo asked now interested.

Especially as he wondered why Hiruzen was informing him. They had always been at odds with their opinion how the village should be led.

"Can't you deduct it yourself?" The Hokage asked.

Danzo thought about it. He went over all the jonin of the village. There were only a few that were suited. The most probable candidate was…

"Kakashi?" Danzo asked.

"Yes. If you think about it he is the only real option we have. He has orders to get back to his old strength. He also is tasked with taking care of our two most difficult new genin." He informed Danzo.

"Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. I already heard that the Uzumaki boy was hiding his true abilities. Impressive if you ask me." Danzo said.

"Indeed. Both boys don't have many ties that bind them to the village. Sadly I haven't been able to really remedy that fact until they graduated from the academy. Now that they are ninja, I can correct the bad influence the civilian council had on them. I only hope that it isn't too late already. That's Kakashi's main task for now. But if I want Kakashi to take over for me once he is ready and his team has been promoted, I need to clean up the current mess as much as possible. Otherwise things wouldn't really change and from Jiraiya's reports I know that things will get troubling sooner than I like." The Hokage said.

Danzo had to agree. He knew from his own spies that there was a mercenary group that took many high class missions for some of the other villages. They consisted of S-rank missing nins, but their goals were unknown so far. Then there was the new village Oto. He hadn't been able to find out much about it. And he had somewhat lost sight of Orochimaru after he had finished the surgery he had hired him for on his arm. Thankfully Hiruzen didn't seem to know about the sharingans he had implanted in his eye and his arm. That wouldn't be tolerated in any way.

"So how do you want me to do this?" Danzo asked.

"I will go through the laws that were passed myself with a few shadow clones over the next few days. I want you to send me two of your ROOT agents that are skilled in administration. One will replace the current secretary and one will go through the jungle of paperwork that is put on my desk each day. I only want him to sort it in categories that make the most sense. Before we can confront the ones responsible, we need to know the whole picture. I want three of your agents to go through the decrees that have been passed since Minato's death. They are to write them down chronologically. I will go through them as soon as they are done. Five of your agents are to inspect the way business is done in the village without being seen.

"I have the suspicion that many businessmen are evading taxes. That and that they demand more taxes than what is legal. I know I have been too passive the past years, but I intend to rectify at least some of my mistakes before I let Kakashi take over. If everything goes well, I will announce him as my successor during the final round of the chunin exams in six months. Normally he should get his team ready to take them in the six months he has. The only shaky candidate is Sakura. I don't know if she will persevere in her choice of career. Kakashi has orders to put his team through the grinder." The Hokage said.

"That is a sound plan. In six months of constant training he should also be back to his past strength and perhaps have got to S-rank level. If I remember right, he was close when he quit ANBU. I will send my agents for the tower in one hour, Hiruzen, and send the ones for the village out as well. How do you want to organize the reporting?" Danzo asked.

"I want your agents to report back to me in three days. They should have a first impression by then. I guess we will need two or three weeks to get all the documents checked." The Hokage sighed.

Danzo nodded. It was good to see that the God of Shinobi intended to go out with a last major strike.

* * *

Team seven stood in the mission office to get their first mission. Sakura was relieved to get a mission for a change. A mission meant that she wouldn't have to go through what she had dubbed 'Kakashi's training from hell'. She had been sore every day of last week after training. The weekend had been training free for them, but Kakashi had given them homework. Thankfully it was all theory, but it would be tested during this week's training hours.

She had to spend five hours reading up and practising hand signals that were used by the Konoha military forces. These signals would be part of their teamwork exercises. And of course she had to practise a new chakra control exercise. Sticking five leafs to her arms. She had known how to do it with one leaf since the academy, but now Kakashi had told them they had to stick fives leafs to their arms and keep them there two hours without losing them once. She had hated the exercise. She always lost control and had to start new. Why would it help them to be able to do that exercise?

And she also hadn't had much time taking care of her body to impress Sasuke. Her hair was messier than ever before, her skin was losing some of its shine and she got calluses on her hands. How should she ever get Sasuke this way? More, she couldn't stop herself from eating all the food Kakashi gave them, even if it was way too fat. She had tried to only eat a bit of it, but her stomach was betraying her. Her mother had promised her to take care of her lunchboxes from this week on. She would make sure she ate low fat.

The three genin listened to the Hokage when he told Kakashi the available missions. Sakura was glad. Most of those missions didn't sound that bad. Babysitting for the Minister, weeding a garden for a council member, yes she could do that.

"We take cleaning out the field of Mr Takashima, Hokage Sama." Kakashi decided.

Sakura wanted to cry. That was another hard exercise. And it was a bit outside of the village. Mr Takashima had just started a farm two miles outside of Konoha. There would be no chance to rest and flirt with Sasuke from what she could tell. And she was sure Kakashi would make the way there another exercise.

"Alright, team. We won't need any special equipment, any farming tools we might need will be at the farm. Let's go." Kakashi said and left the office.

* * *

Naruto and Sasuke turned the cleaning of the field into a challenge. They would start on one side of the field and each had a clone of Naruto with them to take the waste which they pulled from the field. Five other clones of Naruto would sort through their findings and sort them. The small stones would be put aside for a pond Mr Takashima wanted to build later. The bigger ones would be used for walls to surround the property. Sticks and bigger branches would either be shredded later or burned. Some would perhaps be used as stabilizers for vegetable plants. That would be Mr Takashima's decision.

Sakura was also cleaning her part with a shadow clone taking care of getting the waste away, but she was way slower than the two boys. Sasuke wanted to prove that he could go the same pace as Naruto and Naruto wanted to shove it into the Uchiha's face that there were people better than him. Kakashi watched the whole action amused. The competitiveness between Naruto and Sasuke would only end in the mission getting done faster. Perhaps he could get the team to two missions a day in a few weeks. But then again, his goal was taking only missions that wouldn't get his team in close contact with the villagers too much.

"Wow, your students are doing good work. I'm surprised they are that fast." Mr Takashima said.

"Well, they are ninjas; they should be faster than civilians. And they don't even use their abilities besides Naruto making his shadow clones to assist." Kakashi answered.

"Are your two male students by any chance overly competitive?" Mr Takashima asked.

"A bit. But as long as it results in better work, I don't mind." Kakashi said.

He looked at Sakura. The girl was already slowing down.

"Hey, Sakura, don't get slower. This is also meant as a strength building exercise." He shouted to her.

Sakura returned to her former pace.

"She was slowing down?" Mr Takashima asked surprised.

"Yes, she sometimes needs a good push to do her best, but we are working on that." Kakashi replied unconcerned.

Mr Takashima wondered about this, but then again, who could really understand how ninjas worked?

* * *

After four hours the field was cleared of all things that would be in the way of farming.

"Wow, good work. I didn't think it would be done today." Mr Takashima told the team happily.

"No problem, Mr Takashima, that's our job." Kakashi said.

"I have some refreshments prepared for you and your team, Mr Hatake." Mr Takashima said. "As a sign of my gratitude for the good and speedy work."

"That we'll gladly accept." Kakashi said. "You heard Mr Takashima. Wash your hands and then come over to get some snacks." Kakashi called out to his team.

The three nodded and went to the hose to wash their dirty hands. Soon they were back with Kakashi. Well, Naruto and Sasuke were. Sakura needed a bit longer, being exhausted after four hours of constant hard work. Additionally she had to deal with the effects of the gravity seals which made her slower. With her small reserves she had massive problems to keep the effects of the seals from influencing her too much.

Mr Takashima and his wife were presenting the genin with a plate of sushi each.

"My wife led a sushi restaurant before we came to Konoha from Water Country." Mr Takashima explained.

"Why did you move?" Sakura asked, eating gratefully.

"Well, in Water Country there is a civil war going on. The Mizukage, the leader of Kiri has declared all those that possess a bloodline limit devils and responsible for the horrors of wars. They are hunted down mercilessly. But even we civilians are sometimes involved in the fights of the two sides, the one following the Mizukage and the one opposing him, who think that the bloodline limit users, who fought for Kiri in the past shouldn't be persecuted. We didn't want to be killed in the middle of those fights and decided it would be safer to move here." Mrs Takashima informed the genin.

Sasuke was shocked. People who had a bloodline limit like his clan were hunted down in Water Country? But why? Normally the clans that had a bloodline limit were the strongest in a village's military. Like his clan had been. Their sharingan had been praised in Konoha.

Naruto silently ate his sushi. He could empathize with the rebels. Nobody would take being hunted down for something that had helped his village in the past. And what choice did those people have? They were just born like that. An ability wasn't evil in itself. It was how you used it.

"These are really good, Mrs Takashima." Sakura said, not really getting the mood of her two team-mates.

"Thanks, dear." Mrs Takashima answered.

* * *

The civilian council was at a loss how they had lost a good part of their power in such short a time. The Hokage seemingly had suddenly grown a backbone. He was keeping the ninjas that formerly had done their bidding under a firm watch. It had taken them a week to find out, but both the jonin commander and the ANBU commander had given orders to all ninjas that the civilian council had no say in shinobi matters. They had no authority to order ninja to do anything. The Hokage, after all ninjas had been informed, even the new genin had been told the orders, had given them a warning to not try to usurp his power. Trying to usurp the Hokage's power was treason and would be handled accordingly.

They had held a meeting to discuss their options, but soon realized that there was nothing they could do. The Hokage held the power of the military. They only had control over the civilian affairs as long as they didn't threaten the military strength of the village. That meant withholding service from shinobi in any way or sabotaging the goods sold to shinobi. They knew if they continued to treat the demon like he deserved to be treated, they would face the Hokage's wrath. After checking on the sales numbers of the past three years, they made a surprising discovery. The only things the demon brat had bought from them were the occasional fresh products like milk and eggs. Nothing else. How did the brat do that? As much as they tried to find out, they couldn't wrap their minds around it. The brat was the dead last of his class. A failure as a ninja. There should have been no way for him to manage that.

In the shadows Gazelle, the ANBU on duty grinned under his mask. This promised to be interesting in the future. He was one of the ANBU that were more than tired of the arrogant behaviour of the civilian council. Having them obsessed with trying to figure out how the so called demon brat managed to trick them was indeed amusing. And from what Kakashi told about his team, the blond was really good.

* * *

After finishing their snack, Kakashi took his team back to the Hokage tower to report about the mission. He had made his genin run the whole way back in a sprint. After all, two miles should be nothing for a ninja; even a fresh genin should be able to do it. When they reached the gates, Sakura wanted to collapse. Her sensei was definitely a sadist.

"Team seven reporting back from a D-rank mission." Kakashi informed the guards.

"Already? Didn't you have that field clearing mission?" One of the chunin asked.

"Yes, my team was just good in their time." Kakashi answered.

"Okay, we have noted you being back." The other chunin said and Kakashi led his team to the tower.

"Did you also have the impression that two of the three genin were about to collapse?" One asked.

"Yes. The Uchiha is hiding it somewhat well, but the girl was really obvious. Strangely Uzumaki didn't seem tired." The other answered.

All ninjas had been briefed to not refer to Naruto by any derogative terms, so most just called him Uzumaki when they talked about him.

"I wouldn't think he would be tired after a sprint. Don't you remember how we had to hunt him down after one of his pranks? If he has practice in anything, then it is running at high speeds." The first one said snorting.

"True." His partner replied.

* * *

In the Hokage Tower Kakashi instructed his genin to watch how he made his report as they would be required to do it themselves in the near future.

"Team seven back for report." Kakashi stated.

The chunin on duty nodded and took out a notepad for a short summary. Kakashi would later hand in a thorough written report about the performance of his team after all. The Hokage just wanted to get an overview of the successfully fulfilled missions every day.

"Team seven was tasked with clearing out the field of the newly moved in Takashima couple. Genins Haruno, Uchiha and Uzumaki took to clearing the field of stones, wood and other waste, leaving the remains for shadow clones of Uzumaki to be sorted into categories for later use by the Takashimas. After four hours of work the field was finished. Individual report on the performance of my genin will follow in my written report." Kakashi said.

"Good, the short report will be handed in to Hokage Sama." The chunin confirmed.

"I have a question, Kakashi sensei." Naruto asked.

"Yes, Naruto?" Kakashi answered.

"Is there a possibility for a genin to take more D-rank missions outside of the ones a team does?" He asked looking at an immense amount of missions labelled D-rank.

"With the permission of Hokage Sama and the jonin sensei of said genin it is definitely possible. Why, are you interested?" Kakashi asked.

"You know that I am an orphan and I need to earn money someway. This would be the easiest way for me to do it. I could give some missions to my shadow clones and let them do the missions while I am busy with our team's training." Naruto argued.

"Hm, if Hokage Sama agrees I don't see any reason to not allow it as long as you do the missions properly. But I want you to keep it to three missions a day. I don't want you to be too tired from chakra exhaustion for your team training." Kakashi said.

Naruto looked at Kakashi as if he was crazy.

"Sensei, chakra exhaustion is no problem for me and you know it. I would have to fire A-rank jutsus around for five hours in a row to get exhausted. And even then I would probably be up again after an hour of resting and eating." He said.

Kakashi had to agree with the statement, but didn't comment.

"Naruto, don't brag with false abilities. You can't have that much chakra." Sakura scolded.

"No, Sakura, Naruto is right in his statement, he does have overly large chakra reserves. He has been born with them and his training only increased them over time." Kakashi admonished her. He would have thought she was too tired to argue after all the hard work of today.

"But he can't have more chakra than Sasuke. Sasuke was always the best and the strongest at the academy." She protested.

"Didn't you realize yet that I faked my abilities in the academy? I would have thought all the training sessions last week would have made that much clear. Sasuke has large reserves for a fresh genin, that's true, and compared to the others in our class he has the largest reserves, but he is nowhere near my level." Naruto set her straight.

"How big could your reserves be, idiot?" She sneered.

"Kage level." Kakashi said, shocking both Sakura and Sasuke. "Naruto's reserves are the biggest of anyone in the village. But large reserves alone don't make a good ninja. You need to have good control over your chakra too and the experience from fighting opponents."

Naruto nodded. He knew the only thing he really needed for a promotion to chunin was said experience. He had the abilities and control without a doubt. But even he had to admit, he was getting better and stronger with Kakashi's intense training. Training on his own had given him a very good base to work with but the teamwork exercises his sensei came up with helped him practice to really use the theoretical skills he had. It would be invaluable in the field. He knew the old man wouldn't promote him to jonin straight away, but if he got the experience he needed in the next six months until the chunin exams only a natural catastrophe or something similar would be able to prevent his promotion. Kakashi dismissed his team with the reminder to be at the gates at six like the other mornings.

* * *

The next morning Naruto got the information from Kakashi that the Hokage had agreed to let him do three additional D-rank missions a day as long as Naruto was not on a mission outside of the village at the time. Naruto made ten clones and sent one of them to the mission office to get the missions for him. The idea was a spontaneous one. He knew that he had his parents' money that he would get as soon as he was declared the Namikaze and Uzumaki heir at the chunin exams and he also had a good amount of money from his trips into the Forest of Death after the last chunin exams in there, but he also didn't want anybody to know about that. So him taking more D-ranks solo would give him a good cover and more money. Thankfully the payment was going to the mission office before it was transferred to the ninja's account.

Around lunch, a chunin arrived at the training ground.

"Kakashi, Naruto Uzumaki is to come to the Hokage's office immediately. Here is the order of Hokage Sama." He said.

Kakashi checked the order and saw it was genuine.

"Naruto, you are wanted by Hokage Sama." He said to his genin.

Naruto nodded and stopped his exercise.

"Once you are finished with whatever Hokage Sama wants, you are to come back to continue training." Kakashi ordered.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said and took off towards the tower.

"Okay, you two back to chakra control training." Kakashi said.

Sakura groaned and Sasuke just continued training tree-walking while sticking a leaf to each back of his hands with chakra.

* * *

Naruto arrived at the tower and walked towards the Hokage's office. He looked at the secretary that surprisingly didn't glare at him. He had also never seen her before.

"I was called by Hokage Sama to come here immediately." Naruto said neutrally and handed her the note the chunin had given Kakashi.

"I will see if Hokage Sama is available." The new secretary said.

Soon Naruto was in the Hokage's office.

"Ah, Naruto, good that you came so fast." The Hokage greeted.

"Why did you want to see me, old man?" Naruto asked. As nobody but the hidden ANBU was in the room he could treat the Hokage informal.

"Two reasons. First, I have opened an account for you at the shinobi bank. While the civilian council has been warned that any sabotage of shinobi will be treated like treason, I doubt they will really fall in line. The shinobi bank is run by retired shinobi and under the direct control of the Hokage. All your payments will go to that account. Second, I wanted to talk to you about your expertise in fuinjutsu. Yesterday our main supplier for seals died on a mission. As seals are a delicate topic, I can't just import pre-made seals from outside the village. Too much potential for sabotage. While some of our ninjas can make the basic seals for their needs, most of our forces just buy them at shinobi equipment shops or are given them from the armoury if the mission requires them." The Hokage explained.

"So you want me to take over for the killed ninja?" Naruto clarified.

"Yes, this would be treated as an on-going secret B-rank mission for your file. You will be paid by the number of seals you made. The current payment for twenty explosive tags for example is one thousand four hundred and thirty ryo. You will be given a list with the prices you will be paid for each kind of seal. If you supply other useful seals we will decide on their prices accordingly." The Hokage said.

"Okay, but won't people protest if they know that I made those seals? I am not the most well-liked guy in the village after all and many would accuse me of trying to kill them through faulty seals." Naruto said.

"That won't be a problem, because the seals will be distributed under the codename Dark Phoenix." The Hokage assured Naruto.

"Okay, that would work. What about the supplies to make the seals and how many seals do you need right now?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage took a piece of paper and handed it to Naruto. Naruto looked over the seals that were needed.

"For the supplies, you can get the paper and ink at Jakonato's and put it on the village armoury tab. Just use a henge when you get them." He handed him a permission document.

"Consider it done, old man. They will be ready tomorrow morning." Naruto said.

"So fast?" The Hokage asked surprised.

"Shadow clones." Naruto only said grinning.

"Ah, of course. Well, then I won't keep you from your training anymore, Naruto." The Hokage said.

Naruto nodded and left the room. Outside the tower he made a shadow clone and gave it the permission document and let it go buying the supplies for the seals. He himself went back to his training ground.

He informed Kakashi that he had got an on-going mission for the Hokage to supply the village with seals. Keeping it a secret from his sensei wouldn't have made any sense as Kakashi already knew about his identity and his real abilities.

* * *

**So, the plot thickens. Massiv changes will occure. Till in two weeks.**


	9. Survival Training

******Hi, this is the extra special Christmas update outside of my normal update schedule. I have decided to update all of my stories for which I had the next chapter (at least) ready. So you get six update over all as well as a new story! Merry Christmas.**

* * *

**Survival Training**

That afternoon team seven had to paint the walls of the new swimming hall of Konoha. And Kakashi insisted that they didn't use ladders to reach the higher parts of the walls, but used tree walking to do it. After one and a half hours the walls were painted and Sakura exhausted. With her small reserves sticking to one place at the wall was really hard. She had hoped that they would be done with missions for today, but Kakashi had already got a follow up mission. He had taken it as it was at the same place as the first mission. The pool needed to be tiled. So after a short break the genin started to tile the walls, starting on the bottom end of the walls.

To Sasuke's surprise Naruto was pretty skilled at doing it. It looked like he had done it before. Unknown to Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto was skilled in many crafts. He needed to be with the civilian craftsmen refusing to do any work for him. So Naruto started on the long sides of the pool. Sasuke and Sakura got the short sides. Naruto had a well working system. He tiled as high as he could reach without a ladder and then constructed a pulley from the ceiling to reach the higher parts of the wall without having to wait for the tile glue to dry. With him using three clones on his side and four on the other long side, it took him three hours to finish the tiling. Sasuke, who had seen the method Naruto used to get to the higher part, had copied it and was finishing about the same time. Sakura was only halfway done with her wall.

As it was already seven and Sakura looked ready to collapse, Kakashi asked Naruto to have two of his clones finish her side. Naruto nodded and took over the upper half of the side. When Naruto's clones were done, Kakashi informed the manager of the hall that the pool was tiled and only needed to have seams filled once the glue had dried. The manager checked the painted walls and the tiled pool and signed Kakashi's mission scrolls.

Kakashi took his genin back to the tower and had them listen to the reports he gave about the missions.

"Okay, tomorrow you won't take a mission as we did two today. Instead I arranged for a sparring session with team ten in the afternoon." Kakashi informed them. "Your morning training will still happen as usual." He body flickered away after that.

The genin walked back to their homes. As it was late not many people were on the streets, most were at home. Naruto walked to his secret home after making sure he wasn't followed. He went inside, made two clones, and went to the shower. His clones started making dinner. He still had the meat of two rabbits in his fridge and his clones had harvested carrots and peas today from his field. They cooked some rice and prepared a sauce before putting everything on a plate. Naruto was just finished putting on fresh clothes when his dinner was ready. So he sat down to eat.

Once he had finished his dinner, he put the plate and glass in the sink and made hundred shadow clones. They all knew their job and got the sealing supplies to start making the seals the Hokage had ordered. Naruto cleaned the plate and the glass, went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and went to bed. His clones would stay up doing his work.

* * *

Just after team sevens normal morning run, Sasuke was at three laps around the village now, Sakura still had problems with her two, but Kakashi knew it would take time for the girl to make up for the training she hadn't done at the academy, Kakashi watched his students. He was curious if Sakura would pull through or quit. Both was possible, but if he didn't want to get her killed on a mission, the girl needed to be broken out of her fangirl attitude and delusions of how she could achieve to be a ninja. He was pretty sure her mother bore much of the fault for this. He knew Sakura's father had been one of the civilian casualties in the Kyubi attack and her mother blamed Naruto for that. She had been one of the cruellest members of the council, condemning Naruto to the treatment he had gone through as a child.

Naruto had done five laps in the time Sasuke did three. He himself had run ten laps, being serious about getting to top form as soon as possible. He felt taking over the Hokage position would go a long way to help his sensei's son and also lead Obito's last living relative in the village on the right path. With the resistance seals he wore, his training was more intense. He had planned on asking Gai for sparring matches in a month or so, before that time his team, besides Naruto that was, wouldn't be ready.

He had them continue with their stretching and physical exercises. Once they were done with that around nine, he called them together.

"Okay, team, for today I have planned some special exercises." Kakashi said, getting the attention of his team.

He saw a calm wait and see expression on Naruto's face, a look of attention on Sasuke's with a spark of excitement in the black haired boy's eyes and a suspicious and dreading one on Sakura's face.

"We will start your practical survival training. Sasuke you asked if you would learn to hunt and fish, well, today we will be doing just that. I will take you to a part of the woods where you will try to use the theoretical knowledge you got at the academy to catch your lunch. We will go over how to prepare the animals you get the best way and which plants go well with them." Kakashi said.

He didn't want to exhaust his genin too much before the sparring matches with Asuma's team, but he didn't intend to make it easy for them. If they got a good lunch would solely depend on their success in hunting and fishing. It was an important lesson for a shinobi to learn after all.

* * *

Kakashi led his team into a part of the forest six miles away from Konoha. Of course the ninja way by taking to the tree tops. He was content to see that his students were keeping up in formation. As he didn't go a very high speed to not lose Sakura, the boys were assimilating their speed. This formation was a standard one. He took point, Sasuke followed behind him, then Sakura and the end Naruto covered. It was normal for teams. If they were an experienced unit, the position Sakura had normally was the one of the team's medic or generally weakest member. Two strong members front to deflect attacks and the second strongest covering the back against sneak attacks from behind. In teams with Hyuga in them, they normally took the rear position as their byakugan enabled them to perfectly cover the team's backs.

After ten minutes the team reached their destination. Naruto knew this part of the forest. He had hunted here before.

"Okay, I will give you a few hints to where you can find some prey. There is a river a bit to the south west. So that would be the place where you can catch fish. Deer, rabbits, squirrels and birds can be found everywhere hidden in here. I first want to test your individual skills in this area. That means for once, you won't work as a team. After all on missions this kind of task is normally divided between the members of the team. So you all get an hour to catch at least one animal or fish. If you don't manage that, think about ideas what to do about food for lunch, because you only get to eat what you find and catch here. I have taken the liberty to steal your lunchboxes. You will get them back after the sparring session with team ten. So if you don't want to be hungry, I suggest you find food. I will observe you from the shadows, so don't expect to see me at all. Happy hunting." Kakashi said and disappeared.

Naruto copied his movement and left the other two standing there. Sasuke got the idea that he only had one hour to catch something. After asking Kakashi if they would learn how to use the theoretical skills and seeing the way his sensei trained his team he had made sure to read up on the techniques again. Now he was glad he had done so. He took off to the south west. Catching fish would probably be the easiest way to get food. There were some ways to catch fish that didn't take much time. After three minutes Sasuke reached the river. Thankfully it wasn't that big, so building a dam to intercept the fishes would work well enough. He looked for suited wood or stones and came to realize he would have to cut it from the trees mostly. Well, he was a ninja, so getting some branches down wouldn't be a problem.

He quickly walked up a good looking tree and cut four big braches. They wouldn't be enough to stop the water, but manage to keep the fishes in one position long enough for him to strike. Five minutes later his quickly made dam was ready. Now he just had to wait. Thankfully Kakashi sensei had been right and many fishes were coming his way. He stood in the water, keeping still until they were in reach and grabbed them, throwing them onto the shore. He made sure to throw them far enough so that they wouldn't be able to struggle back into the river. When he had six fishes, he walked out of the water and quickly killed the still moving fishes with hits to their necks. He tied them together with a bit of ninja wire and then went looking for some plants he knew would be edible.

He wanted to impress his sensei with his success. He was pretty sure Naruto would also do well in this test, but he didn't intend to fall back too much behind his team-mate. Over the past week he had come to completely rethink his image of Naruto Uzumaki. The boy was nothing like he had given himself at the academy and he wondered just why he had thought it necessary to play the idiot. Naruto wouldn't tell, so he had to find out on his own. But at least his fears to be held back by a weak team had been destroyed after seeing the kind of training Kakashi put them through. Not even the fangirl would be able to stay weak with how Kakashi put them through the grinder. Thank Kami for the old Uchiha bruises and muscle-soreness remedies. He had looked through his clan's scrolls which he had and one had been about them. So the second evening after starting on team seven Sasuke had been busy mixing components fort the salves. They were the only things keeping him functional.

He came upon a hazel bush and it was season for the nuts. He put some shuriken from his pouch on his right leg into the pouch on his back to have space for the nuts. Nuts were good for energy and full of unsaturated fats. After collecting a good number of them, he looked for other plants. Just nuts and fish wouldn't be enough for a meal fitting Kakashi's standards for a good diet after all. He came upon some berry bushes and had to improvise a transport container. Next time he would be ready for something like this. Probably realizing that he needed more variety in his equipment was also part of the exercise. It would be typical for Kakashi. Let his team make mistakes to avoid them in the future. He needed to look up better storage options. Just two pouches wouldn't do at all.

* * *

Sakura was in a pinch. She wanted to catch some small animals, but they all noticed her before she could get close enough to hit them with a shuriken or kunai. Building traps had never been her forte and would take too much time. It was also too unsure to catch something in an hour. She didn't want to be embarrassed in front of Sasuke again. That had happened too often over the week. What other possibilities were there to get food if she couldn't catch animals? Edible plants, fruits, nuts, perhaps she could find some eggs. She knew the river was too far away to get there in time to catch fish. So she resigned herself to collecting as much as she could. Thankfully it was a good time for nuts and berries. Living in the land of fire had the advantage that they never really got winter. It was always mild, so the plants had two phases of bearing fruits.

She found that transporting the things she wanted would mean carrying them with the front of her skirt pulled up, but as she had short leggings under it, it wouldn't matter that much.

* * *

Once the hour was up Kakashi reappeared in the meeting place. His students were already assembled there. Naruto was busy unsealing his spoils. He presented them with three rabbits, two pheasants, one chicken, obviously it had been lost in the forest, a box of berries, a box of nuts, a crate of apples, a box of mushrooms and a wolf.

"What is the meaning of the wolf, Naruto?" Kakashi asked curiously.

"The wolf thought I would be easy prey, I taught him better. As I already killed it, I decided I would keep it for the fur. The merchant caravan pays good prizes for fur in a good condition. I regularly sell them the fur I get from the animals I catch. Mostly it's deer or rabbit though. After all those are the animals I hunt mostly for my meals." Naruto explained.

"Why wouldn't you just buy the meat in a shop?" Sakura asked stupidly.

"I won't give the shop owners any money that I don't need to give them." Naruto answered coldly.

Sasuke put that information away as another part of the puzzle that was Naruto Uzumaki. He presented his collection. The six fishes, the nuts from his pouch, a hand-kerchief with berries and some leaves from a form of wild salad.

Then it was Sakura's turn. She let the contents of her dress roll to the ground. There was an assortment of nuts, berries, some mushrooms, three eggs, a few plums and three apples.

"Okay, the good news is, none of you will have to go hungry. The bad news is that you still need to cook your meals." Kakashi announced. "But before we start doing that, I would like to ask about your impressions of the task."

"While catching the fish by building a small dam to intercept them in the river was easy, I found that transporting smaller things like the berries and the nuts was complicated due to limited space. If I had to do a task like this on a mission for the whole team, the only thing I could easily provide would be the fish as I can just tie it to a stick with wire, which makes for easy transport." Sasuke said.

Kakashi nodded. He had observed each student either himself or with a shadow clone. Sasuke's method of organizing food was solid, but could need some improvements. He would have a lesson about sealing scrolls next. Nothing better than addressing problems after the genin had spotted them themselves.

"Catching animals isn't easy. They have fine senses and with a time restriction building traps isn't that useful. As Sasuke said, transport is also an issue if you are not prepared for a task like this." Sakura said.

At least she hadn't totally failed the exercise. Kakashi had told them if they couldn't catch anything, they would have to collect food. And with the eggs she at least got some proteins.

"Correct, that means we will have to work on your stealth. Naruto, as you obviously were the one best prepared for this task, please tell your team-mates how you solved the task." Kakashi said.

"As I said, I have experience with hunting, so I know how to read animal tracks. I quickly found a clearing where the rabbits were grazing. I got close by sneaking up from above. I killed them with a senbon to the forehead. That damages the fur least if you don't have the time to use slings. Pheasants are pretty stupid, even if they are shy. A bit of corn in a place I could see in well, a bit of patience and again, senbon to the brain killed them good. The chicken was a coincidence. It just crossed my way and I used the same method like with the pheasants. I sealed the animals in sealing scrolls and took to collecting berries in a box, nuts in another, the same for the mushrooms and as the apples were too big, I needed a crate. I have different containers in a sealing scroll which I always carry with me in case I need to transport something." Naruto explained.

Kakashi nodded. That was a good summary how a ninja prepared for any mission.

"Where can I buy some sealing scrolls?" Sasuke asked. "I wouldn't be able to make them myself, so buying is my only option." He said.

"I recommend Jakonato's shop for shinobi equipment." Kakashi said. "Genzo Jakonato is a retired shinobi and knows the needs of a ninja well. His goods are high quality and reasonably priced."

Sasuke nodded, swearing next time he would be better prepared.

"But isn't Jakonato's more expensive than other, civilian shops?" Sakura asked. Her uncle had a shop that sold ninja gear after all.

"No, the problem with civilian suppliers is that in ninety five of all cases the equipment they sell is of low quality as they don't know how trying our job is on our clothes and weapons. You need a special mix of metal to get good kunai or shuriken that don't chip on their first use. It's even more important with swords and the like. While you were at the academy there was nothing wrong buying your supplies there as they were cheaper, but on real missions quality equipment can save your life. What would happen after all if an exploding tag doesn't work properly? Either you miss your target or worst get killed. That's the reason Hokage Sama has fuinjutsu experts supplying the shops run by former shinobis with good seals." Kakashi explained.

Sasuke nodded, making a note to visit Jakonato's in the near future. Sakura frowned. She hadn't thought that there would be such differences between a civilian shop and a shinobi shop. Naruto kept quiet; after all, he was the one that made the seals for the shinobi shops now.

"I haven't heard a lot about fuinjutsu at the academy. If seals are so useful, why don't they teach them at the academy?" Sakura asked.

"It's a difficult art to learn, which takes precision and a lot of study. True masters are really rare. Konoha has one acknowledged seal master at the moment, Jiraiya of the sannin. The other seal master we had was the Yondaime Hokage. There are perhaps six seal experts in the village. I am one of them as I learned a lot about them from my sensei." Kakashi informed them.

"Who was your sensei, Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage." Kakashi answered.

Sakura looked impressed. Her sensei had been trained by the Yondaime himself. Sasuke mentally was very satisfied with the way things had played out for him. Having a student of the legendary Yondaime as his sensei would surely make him strong enough to kill Itachi. Naruto just smiled. The way Kakashi had worded his information concealed that there could be more seal masters, they were just not acknowledged. He would wait until Jiraiya came back; he really wanted to talk with the famous sannin about his self-invented seals. But the Hokage had said it could take a month or more until he came back to the village.

"Okay, now that you have the food, you need to prepare it. One thing every ninja needs to know is how to disembowel animals and gut fish. I know you already know how to do it, Naruto. Have either of you done it before, Sasuke and Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"No, but I have seen how my mother gut a fish once when I was six." Sasuke said, looking sad at the mention of his mother. He missed her.

Sakura just shook her head. This didn't look promising for her. And it would be disgusting to have to do it.

"Okay, Naruto, can I have the chicken for a demonstration?" Kakashi asked.

"Sure." Naruto said and handed the dead bird to Kakashi.

"First you need to do is to pluck the feathers. Especially if you can use them for something like putting them in pillows or for rare birds, sell them. If you don't pluck a bird first, the feathers tend to get bloody and washing out blood is not that easy. With more valuable feathers that can ruin them. With chicken and goose feathers it's not that much of a problem. Next is bleeding out the bird. You cut off the head and hang them with the head down. That will take some time. For animals with fur you need to skin them and then bleed them out." Kakashi demonstrated his skill in quickly plucking all feathers out of the chicken and cutting off the head. He let it hang on a tree-branch.

"For a fish things are different. What do you remember of the procedure, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, first the fish is cut open opposite the top. Then you take out all the offal and depending on how you want to prepare the fish you either let the hide on or cut it away. I have been told in the field you mostly put the fish on sticks, which you roast over an open fire." Sasuke said.

"That's the way it is done. Try it with one of your fishes." Kakashi said.

Sasuke took one fish and cut the underside open with a kunai. He took the offal out, looked through the cut if he had overlooked something and turned to Kakashi, who gave him an eye smile.

"Well done, Sasuke. Would you mind giving one fish to Sakura so she can also learn it? I think we will leave the rabbits and the other birds to Naruto as he knows how to do it and I guess he wants to keep their furs for selling." Both Sasuke and Naruto nodded.

Sakura looked at the fish, fighting with herself if she could really do this. But then her inner voice reminded her that Sasuke wouldn't be impressed with her if she couldn't even gut a fish. So she took her kunai and tried to imitate Sasuke's former performance. She was disgusted when she felt the offal in her hand. A lady shouldn't be forced to do things like this. But everything to impress her Sasuke.

Meanwhile Naruto with skill coming from long practice skinned the rabbits plucked the pheasants and then let them bleed out. Once the blood was out, he took to disembowelling them. He collected the offal in a bowl and had a shadow clone carry them away.

"What are you going to do with the offal?" Sakura asked, too disgusted with having to gut the fish to be overly mean to Naruto.

"Burying it far enough away so that predators don't come close to my camp. It's a habit I learned to follow after a few foxes turned up after my first hunt on rabbits. I lost a rabbit to them and barely managed to keep the second one safe." Naruto answered. He was now cutting two rabbits in small pieces and put them in a lidded box. The pheasants got the same treatment. The last rabbit got put on a pole for roasting over a fire. "Do you want the chicken, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked.

"If you don't mind. I wouldn't have to go hunting myself then." Kakashi said.

"Take it; I have enough with one rabbit and the other things I collected." Naruto answered.

Kakashi thanked him and took to preparing the chicken. Once all of them had prepared their meals, Sasuke had decided to give Sakura a second fish, four were more than enough for him and he couldn't store the spare one, Kakashi had them set up campfires. He corrected them if they made mistakes, but otherwise he was busy with his own fire.

"What is the best way to start a campfire in an area that is safe enough to even light a fire?" Kakashi asked.

"A weak fire jutsu." Naruto said.

"Correct, why would a jutsu like Sasuke's great fireball be ill-suited?" Kakashi asked.

"Because it is too flashy and too hot. Even in presumed safe terrain a ninja has to keep his camp undetected if possible. And with a technique too hot you will burn the wood too fast and don't have enough time to roast your food. Which isn't much of a problem in areas like Konoha which are surrounded by forested areas, but in other regions wood is limited, so you need to get the best possible result with the supplies you have." Sasuke answered, remembering that lesson.

"Indeed. There is a jutsu, one of the fire jutsus that doesn't need the affinity for fire to be used. It was developed for situations like this, lighting a campfire. It doesn't work in a fight, there you need stronger jutsu, but here it's perfect. The handseals are hare and tiger. Try it. If you don't get it in half an hour, I will light the fires." Kakashi said.

Sasuke and Naruto had no problems with the jutsu. As Sasuke knew how to use fire jutsus already, this simple one was easy to perform. And Naruto had used that jutsu for years now. Sakura needed a few tries, but then even she got her fire started.

"Good work everybody. Now we will prepare our meals. Think how you can best prepare the things you collected. After that, I guess it will be time for an early lunch. But as we are meeting team ten at half past one on their training ground I guess that's good." Kakashi said.

Every member of the team took to cooking their meal. After thirty minutes the fishes were done for Sasuke and Sakura, Naruto's rabbit and Kakashi's chicken needed a while longer. Sakura had pierced her mushrooms on sticks and also roasted them. The eggs had been buried in the earth on one side of the fire as she had no pot to cook them. The nuts and berries she ate like they were, as she did the apples and plums.

Sasuke only had to roast his fishes, which looked a lot less mutilated than Sakura's, and the other things he ate like they were. Naruto had wrapped two apples and some mushrooms in aluminium foil and put them to bake in the heat. He had added a few herbs and spices in oil to his rabbit and the mushrooms. After cooking in the wild for so long, he knew what tasted good. He just had to make sure his rabbit was constantly kept covered in his mix.

Once everything was cooked, he took the rabbit from the fire and got his wrapped things from the heat. He had a metal claw for that sealed in his equipment scroll for cooking utensils. Soon all members of team seven were eating contently.

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**So this was chapter nine. Hope you liked it.**


	10. Team Sparring

**Hi, here is chapter 10, thanks to all of you that left reviews. I'm back to my normal update schedule after the huge Christmas special updates. happy reading.**

* * *

**Team Sparring**

Team ten was not amused that their sensei had arranged for a sparring match with another team. Ino was annoying Shikamaru with her blabbing about impressing Sasuke and showing up Sakura.

"Just make sure you aren't too loud. You know how Naruto will react." Shikamaru warned her.

Ino obviously remembered the incident at the academy well enough from the look on her face.

"Why are we even doing a sparring match with another team so early into our training? We didn't learn that much yet." Choji asked.

"You were just unlucky to be the first ones that will have those matches. Kurenai, Kakashi and I decided that it would be good for the developments of the rookie teams if we had them spar against each other regularly to get you all used to multiple fighting styles." Asuma explained. "Once you have got more experience we will probably also ask some older genin teams to be included."

"Troublesome." Shikamaru said.

Then they saw team seven appear from the entrance of the training ground.

"Hello, Asuma." Kakashi greeted.

"Hello, Kakashi. It's really strange to see you nearly on time." Asuma replied.

"Well, you know how that is. So much to do with the team to get them up to snuff. No time to be properly late." Kakashi sighed.

Asuma grinned. He knew Kakashi was ordered to be more punctual because he needed to get his two male students improved in the mental area. And that meant keeping them busy. He wondered just what pace Kakashi had set for his team.

"Okay, how do you want to do this? Three against three or one-on-one fights?" Asuma asked.

"I think for now one-on-one fights will work out better. It will take some time until they can work as a coherent unit. After all, they just trained a bit more than a week under us. Too little time to get them trained on team formations." Kakashi answered.

Asuma had expected that. He would make sure the next match against team seven would be team-fights; that was the strong area of his genin team.

They drew the matches. Shikamaru had to fight Naruto, Choji Sasuke, and Ino Sakura. First Naruto and Shikamaru were up.

"What a drag." Shikamaru complained.

Naruto decided to just go with taijutsu. Shikamaru was no match for his speed and he still needed to work on his shadow possession. Even if he got caught in it, Shikamaru couldn't hold it for long yet. When Asuma started the match, Naruto shot forward, always keeping an eye on the shadow, but as Shikamaru needed to be stationary for it to work, Naruto had the advantage. He quickly kept Shikamaru busy in a taijutsu match. Naruto was clearly superior in taijutsu and nailed Shikamaru to the ground with a kunai to his throat after a short time.

"I yield." Shikamaru hurried to say. Naruto nodded and helped Shikamaru back up. "Geez, you were holding back even more than I already thought Naruto. So troublesome." He said.

Naruto just grinned and let the next two take his and Shikamaru's places. Sasuke won the match against Choji, though he noticed that the resistance seals slowed him down considerably compared to his former speed at the academy. It took him more work to defeat the physically strong Choji. As he didn't want to use harmful jutsus in a simple training spar against a boy who was weaker than him, he kept it to taijutsu and the basic three academy jutsus. Having trained under Kakashi had shown him the great possibilities of them, especially the replacement jutsu. Soon Choji got frustrated with Sasuke always switching places with logs, tree branches, stones and whatever else he thought useful. Finally Sasuke managed to tie Choji up in ninja wire and place a kunai at his throat.

"Is it my imagination or was Sasuke slower than at the academy?" Shikamaru asked Ino.

"No, he was slower, I just wonder why." She answered.

"Part of our training." Naruto said.

"So he is wearing weights?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, resistance seals. They work similar, but strengthen the whole body without adding additional weight which wouldn't be good for a growing body. Weights are mostly used by taijutsu specialists as they need much muscle power for their attacks." Naruto answered.

"Are you all wearing them?" Ino asked.

"Yes. Kakashi sensei made sure we all used them the second day of our training." Naruto said, not giving out too much information.

Then Ino stood up and faced Sakura. She was sure she could beat her, especially if she was slower than before thanks to the seals Naruto spoke about. What followed was a surprise for Ino and Sakura. While the pinkette had mostly stood in the shadow of the blond in the past and tried to show her up in the fight over Sasuke, Ino had had the advantage of clan training. Now, even if she was slower than before, Sakura found it was easier for her to react to Ino's attacks. She wasn't good enough in taijutsu yet, after all she had only trained a week under Kakashi sensei, but she noticed improvement. In the end, Ino tricked Sakura with a replacement jutsu and hit her with shuriken in the arm from behind. The resulting short lapse in concentration was enough for the blond girl to secure her win.

Both senseis had watched their students intently, memorizing the points where they needed to improve their students.

"Okay, take ten minutes break, Kakashi and I will discuss a few things and then return." Asuma said.

Sakura let out a relieved breath.

"Hey, forehead, too weak to stand ninja training?" Ino asked mocking.

"You don't have any clue how much training I have already done today and today was a fairly easy one." Sakura shot back.

"Oh, did you have to run a few laps around the training field and do a few exercises?" Ino continued, knowing that physical exercises were a weakness of Sakura. This was such a good opportunity to show Sasuke how much better she was than forehead girl.

"Just so you know, Ino-pig. Our team starts training at six in the morning. We have to run laps around the village while we are wearing resistance seals that make you feel like wading through water the whole day. Then we have to do physical exercises for two hours before we can eat a small snack. Then follows whatever Kakashi sensei has thought up for that day and it is always hard work. Even today, when we worked on survival techniques I had to gut two fishes that Sasuke caught; otherwise I would only have had some berries, nuts, eggs, mushrooms and apples for lunch."

Sakura loved rubbing into her rival's face that she had got fishes that Sasuke had caught.

"So what? That's normal for a ninja to know. My mum taught me how to gut fishes that dad caught on some trips with his old team-mates when I was nine. I also know how to cook the fish so that it tastes great." Ino replied scoffing. "And if you start that early you only have more free time in the afternoons, what's so hard about that?"

"That we don't have the afternoons free. We never finish before six, mostly it's later, especially now with the missions. We do one each day, today is an exception because we had this sparring session with your team, which my team was better in than yours. And I only lost to you, because the resistance seals made me slower." Sakura stated.

"You wouldn't have a chance against me even if they were off. Why don't we prove that right now?" Ino challenged Sakura.

"I can't. Kakashi sensei is the only one who can release them at the moment. He says until we go on C-rank missions outside the village he won't let us have control over our seals. The only one who can turn them on or off on his own is Naruto, but he had them before our team was even built. I don't know why, he is just trying to look better than Sasuke." She complained.

Shikamaru heard what Sakura had said and put it into his file of clues about the blond. What exactly had Naruto done to train during his academy time? The image of the talentless idiot was made up to throw somebody off, but whom?

Naruto just ignored the complaints his so called team-mate brought up with Ino. Both needed to realize that being a ninja was no game. You could die on a mission. Even a C-rank if you weren't prepared. After all, even bandits knew how to use poison and if they got close enough, or just mixed it under the food in a restaurant, things were over. It was improbable, but still possible. And if the girls didn't improve their fighting abilities, the occasional rogue ninja that led bandits could be a massive problem for them if they were ever separated from their teams or had bad luck in a fight. It had happened often enough in the past. And the things bandits did to girls were sometimes worse than death.

Kakashi and Asuma returned and gave their students comments on their fights and where they needed to improve. To the horror of team ten, Asuma announced that in three weeks they would also get resistance seals to train their physical strength.

"Why then and not now?" Choji asked.

"Because I first want you to have learned to properly work as a team and get you up to speed in the basics. If you know the moves, you can then retrain your skill easier when you get the seals." Asuma said.

"But why did Kakashi sensei then have us train with them from the second day?" Sakura asked. Asuma's way to do things was making much more sense to her.

"Because I have a different way to train my genin team and we have a different focus. I think you all need to build up strength, well Naruto not so much as he has trained like that before becoming a genin, but you and Sasuke had more than enough room for improvement in the strength area. And if you are used to the increased difficulty of training, missions will be easier for you." Kakashi said.

'That and I need to break you and Sasuke out of your bad habits.' He mentally added.

Sakura just thought her sensei was a sadist. Her fangirl and damsel in distress mentality still was resisting being broken.

"So next week you are going up against Kurenai's team?" Asuma asked Kakashi.

"Yes, after that we have a break from the sparring matches. I will just have them take missions then. Until the end of the month I intend to have them done around twenty D-ranks. After that, if all went well, they should be ready for C-ranks." Kakashi replied, having Naruto and Sasuke perked up at the prospect of doing C-ranks after only a month being genin.

"Ambitious, aren't you, Kakashi?" Asuma asked.

"Perhaps a bit, but you know that C-ranks only involve bandits and the like if any. Mostly they are pretty boring and only are C-ranked because they have the genin outside the village for a certain time frame." Kakashi reminded him.

Asuma nodded. It was true, most C-ranks were messenger jobs, escorting merchants, delivery jobs that needed to be done by faster methods than a civilian could manage, some low profile guard duty, things like that. And with Kakashi being there, normally there would be no risk for his team.

Kakashi turned to his genin. "We are returning to our training ground and will do advanced tree climbing for the next hours." He informed them.

They nodded and stood up from the ground.

"What is advanced tree climbing, Asuma sensei?" Ino asked, not having heard of climbing on trees being a ninja training exercise.

"I only know normal tree climbing. It's an exercise to learn to control your chakra better to fight more effectively. You'll also learn that soon. I guess Kakashi has thought up his own version to make it more difficult." Asuma answered.

Sakura shuddered. Her sensei's ideas of training exercises bordered on insane in her eyes.

"Ah, there are so many beautiful ways to make the exercise more difficult. I have them climb trees while sticking a leaf to each hand for example. But today we will practice the version where you have to ignore disturbances from outside." Kakashi told his students eye smiling.

"Which means Naruto's clones get to pepper us with rubber balls again." Sasuke translated sighing, determined to get the better of Naruto's clones this time.

"Be glad that Kakashi sensei keeps it at rubber balls, we could also do the same with senbons." Naruto said grinning evilly.

"You are crazy, you know that, Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Only a little bit, nothing to be worried about. All ninjas have to be a little crazy to survive in this job." The blond played it down.

'The whole team is crazy.' Thought the genin of team ten.

"Well, we are on our way then, until next time, Asuma. And that makes two victories for me and one for you." Kakashi told Asuma while leaving.

"The only thing that counts is the end result. The bet is for the whole time until the next chunin exams." Asuma countered.

"And I am sure I will win." The silver haired jonin replied.

When team seven had left, Shikamaru turned to his sensei.

"What kind of bet is that?" He asked.

"Oh, just whose team will win the most fights with another team. The ones in the bet are Kurenai, Kakashi and I. The winner gets the pot of fifteen thousand ryo." Asuma said. "So I intend to win.

"And how would that work? If you didn't notice, Naruto is clearly beyond genin level, I would guess from his speed and how hard he hit he is high chunin level and if Kakashi sensei is really training team seven like that I don't see either us or team eight winning against Naruto or Sasuke." Shikamaru demanded to know.

"Ah, but there you are mistaken. Only the first fights will matter in that way. We will also have team matches and there it matters that all members of a team solve the given task together. And face it; Kakashi has two strong individual fighters in Naruto and Sasuke but no teamwork. And Sakura isn't their level. If she constantly loses her fights it will also cost Kakashi points. This is completely open for now." Asuma assured them.

"Does that mean you will also make us do some crazy training?" Ino asked.

"I will up your training, that's for sure, but I don't like overwhelming fresh genin from the start. The first month is to get used to ninja life, after that things will get harder." He informed them.

* * *

Meanwhile on training ground eight Kurenai was copying Kakashi's idea of keeping her team busy. She knew Hinata was ridiculed by her clan for her shyness and her problems with learning gentle fist. If only she had more of an idea about the style, but taijutsu and especially secret clan techniques were not her forte. She was a genjutsu specialist. Shino needed to get more contact with others and learn how to open up more. His team-mates needed to be able to have an idea how he worked. Kiba needed to get over his brashness, which was somewhat typical for his clan. All three were talented and she didn't doubt they would be ready for the chunin exams in six months.

"Okay, team, I have something to tell you." She said.

Hinata, Shino and Kiba sat down around her.

"As you perhaps know, three of the nine teams of your year have passed the genin tests of their jonin senseis, you, team ten under Asuma Sarutobi and team seven under Kakashi Hatake. Now Asuma, Kakashi and I decided that to improve all our students' fighting skills and other abilities that are important for ninjas, we will have you compete with the other teams. This month will be one-on-one fights against the members of the other teams. After that we will have other tasks which will be decided later. Next week we have a match against team seven, the week after that we will face team ten. Today teams seven and ten have their match." She told them.

Shino took the information stoically. Kiba was excited at the prospect to show his strength and Hinata hoped she wouldn't embarrass her team.

"During all of this, we jonin senseis have a bet going on. The jonin whose team collects most points over the period of six months will win fifteen thousand ryo. We all placed five thousand in the pot. If you manage to win the pot for me, I will invite you to a great celebratory dinner. I want to prove to Kakashi and Asuma that a team specialized in tracking can be as strong as any other team." She said.

"Count on us, Kurenai sensei, we will make sure you win your bet." Kiba loudly exclaimed.

"Don't be too sure of our abilities. We are good, but it will depend on the tasks we will get how well we can do. Why you ask? Team seven has the two top genin of our class in it." Shino said.

"Sakura wasn't top of the class." Kiba protested.

"Not Sakura, Naruto. If you didn't notice, he faked his idiocy and his bad grades. Naruto is the most dangerous opponent of all the new genin." Shino stated.

"No way, he was the dead last. I will give you that his show with shutting up Sakura and Ino with senbons and poisons was cool, but you don't really think he was a good fighter." Kiba protested.

"N-No, Kiba. Naruto is s-strong. H-He has more chakra t-than even K-Kurenai sensei." Hinata said.

Kiba looked at her disbelievingly.

"You can't be serious, Hinata." He said.

Hinata nodded.

"Damn, how can he have more chakra than a jonin?" Kiba asked indigenised.

"Naruto is a special case." Kurenai only said.

Shino nodded. He had asked his father after graduating why Naruto had so much chakra, but he was told it was classified information. Something was odd about his old classmate and he would find out what it was.

* * *

**Alright, I hope you liked the update. Some asked if thanks to Naruto being stronger than in canon the other genin would become stronger as well, here is your answer, the senseis are working towards that by letting them spar against each other and training them harder.**


	11. Ups and Downs of Training

**Alright, chapter 11 is up. Thanks for all of your reviews and your continued support. Happy reading.**

* * *

**Ups and Downs of Training**

Over the next week Kakashi kept his team busy and mostly out of the sight of the villagers. The only things anybody heard were from stories councillor Haruno spread, those that her daughter told her, that was if Sakura wasn't too tired to do more than showering, eating and falling into her bed. It was one point the loud councillor was complaining about, the inhuman training her daughter was forced to do.

Isami Haruno was not happy that her little princess, who was meant to become the wife of the last Uchiha and bring her family more power through said marriage, was doing that kind of training. It would disfigure her beautiful body. She would get calluses on her soft hands, which would push any man away. Her shiny silky hair didn't get the necessary care and was losing its silkiness. But she had to stay on the team to prevent any other girls from stealing the boy for themselves. And then there was the fact that her little girl was always forced to be in company of the demon. But all her complaints with the Hokage had been ignored. The only way that he would change the teams would be after the chunin exams if Kakashi nominated his team for them. The teams were made for good reasons.

Normally she and her fellow civilian councillors would have done something to sabotage the demon, but for some reason the Hokage now kept a stricter eye on them and had taken away their ability to command ninjas to do their bidding. No ninja would listen to them, citing they weren't part of the chain of command. And yesterday they had been called in for a meeting of both parts of the council with the Hokage. It hadn't been a nice meeting.

The Hokage had taken away their responsibility for the ninja academy. His reasoning was that the academy was part of the military, run by teachers that were ninja. The future ninjas of the village were taught there and therefore the curriculum was the responsibility of the military, not the civilian council. So now the shinobi council was tasked with proposing a new curriculum as the graduation results in the last three years had been abysmal. Only teams that consisted of mostly clan children passed the tests of their jonin senseis and most tests were reasonably levelled for a team to have a chance to pass them. That only thirty three per cent on average passed those tests was alarming and wouldn't be accepted anymore.

The villagers that requested genin teams for jobs, hoping to get to see the last Uchiha were disappointed. All jobs like weeding gardens, babysitting, grocery shopping and walking dogs were done by teams eight and ten. It wasn't that team seven didn't do any missions; Kakashi just selected the physically most demanding ones and the ones outside the village walls. One of his favourites was catching Tora. So far team seven had chased the cat three times in two weeks. Some jobs like painting fences, repairing roofs after bad weather, painting houses and the like, jobs that required handicraft skills in general were done by groups of shadow clones of Naruto Uzumaki. Many had questioned why he did those missions without his team and got the answer that he didn't have clan funds to fall back on or a family to help him pay his bills, so he had asked the Hokage to do a few more D-rank missions to earn more money.

With the newer residents of the village, those that had moved here after the Uchiha massacre, the boy was fairly well-liked. They had heard about his pranks and his disrespect to everybody, but were surprised about the image they now got after meeting the boy in person. While he was distant, he was perfectly polite and did his jobs well. The older villagers tried to demand other genins to take the missions they handed in, but the mission office told them to either accept who they got sent or do the work themselves. Many then just glared at Naruto and his clones, but Naruto had too much experience with dealing with hateful villagers to react to it anymore.

The Hokage had ordered the ones working at the mission office to not give in to any demands regarding complaints about Naruto taking missions. Additionally a chunin that the Hokage trusted absolutely was to inspect the missions once Naruto was done to avoid hateful civilians cheating on the money for well-done jobs. As the village had too many D-rank missions to do all the time, he didn't want to lose the one genin that did more than requested voluntarily. And with so many D-ranks getting done, the village also earned more money. With time the chunin at the mission office got used to the blond and started treating him better. There always were those that couldn't get over their long standing grudges, but their numbers were falling. It didn't really mean the number of people that liked Naruto got bigger, but many stopped disliking him. He was a genin, doing his missions for the village properly and he didn't even complain once about his missions. That alone was earning him respect.

The kind of training Kakashi was putting his team and himself through was also spreading in the ranks. Gai had been ecstatic that his eternal rival was finally embracing his flames of youth again and had stopped with his tardiness. The more reliable information came from Asuma though, who had an idea what Kakashi was doing with his team. Many were astonished that he had put his genin under resistance seals and had them work the whole day on training and missions. Those in the mission office knew that most missions Kakashi had his team do were physically demanding. And he seemed to take sadistic pleasure in having them hunt Tora.

* * *

On Monday morning after their laps and their normal exercises, Kakashi deactivated the resistance seals on Sasuke and Sakura. They needed to get used to their new speed and strength regularly or they would have problems if they ever deactivated their seals in a fight. Sasuke was testing his new speed amazed. This was fantastic. He felt light like a feather. And this was the effect after only two weeks of working out with the seals. What would he be able to do after six months?

Sakura was equally astonished. Her speed had also increased, even if not to the same level as Sasuke's. But she felt problems with coordinating her limbs. The higher speed required her to move differently. She had to move her legs faster to control her movements. She could also lift the weights easier and managed more weight as well.

Naruto had kept his seals activated. If he really deactivated them he would probably be subject of a new wave of jealousy from Sasuke. If he was required to give a demonstration he could reduce their level back down to level four. It would still mean a huge difference. He would see if he could have a sparring match against Kakashi at full speed sometime soon when the other two weren't present.

The day was a revelation and also an encouragement for the genin of team seven. Kakashi knew he had to have them experience the results of their hard work to keep them motivated. Well at least that was true for Sasuke and Sakura. Naruto knew why he worked hard and was way above the other two in skills already. He hoped at the end of the month he really could take his team on C-ranks. He wasn't concerned for Sasuke. He would be ready without question. But Sakura had to accept that there was no way she could survive as a ninja another way than his training. Team seven was a combat unit. Naruto and Sasuke the heavy hitters and Sakura the support and, if she worked on it, genjutsu user. Combat teams got more dangerous missions than capture and interrogation specialists like team ten, or trackers like team eight.

"Okay, team. Now that you have got used to your new abilities a bit, we will speed up your acclimation with them some. Meaning fast movements on a moment's notice. Naruto, I need a hundred clones." Kakashi said.

Sakura paled. A hundred of those infernal clones? What had Kakashi sensei planned?

Naruto just made the handseal and created the clones Kakashi wanted.

"I want you to split in five teams. One team of ten is going to the area where we hunted before and get us a few rabbits and apples for lunch. The second and third team of fifteen are going to pelt Sakura and Sasuke with rubber balls to get them used to their new speed and how to control their new strength. Twenty five will do the same with Naruto and the last thirty five are working with me with senbons. But not the poisoned ones." Kakashi instructed. "The same rules as always, only deflecting the balls with your hands, otherwise dodging."

The clones nodded and separated in teams with ten taking off into the woods outside the village to get food. It was nice of Kakashi to give them the opportunity to collect a few more furs. The caravan was due in a week again and he could earn a good amount of money with the furs. And the caravan was his favourite place to get some unusual weapons and more outfits. While Jakonato's was great for his normal needs, there was a merchant with the caravan that sold weapons from Iron Country and one from River Country where a guild of ninja tailors was living in a village whose clothes were simply amazing. Their clothes were made of chakra conductive threads and accordingly expensive. Therefore he needed to save the money for a very special piece of clothing.

His father had theorized it in his journal, but never had the time to test it completely. Naruto wanted to have a cape like his father's, in colours of his liking, which would allow him to place seals on that would enable him to fly. His wind manipulation was advanced enough to channel wind chakra though such a material. He had worked out the seals; he now just needed the cape. He had placed his order six months ago when the caravan had been here last and the merchant had assured him the cape would be ready when they returned. With all the money from the D-rank missions, the fur, hides and feathers sales, his collection of money from the now dead participants of the chunin exams and his normal income he wouldn't have any problems to get everything he wanted.

There was also one merchant that treaded with spices. Naruto liked to have a variety of tastes with his meals. If he could get away with it, he wouldn't buy anything with the civilian stores, but for eggs and milk he didn't have a choice. Well, perhaps in the future, if the Takashimas held cows and chickens, he could get them there.

* * *

Team eight was waiting for team seven on their training ground. Kurenai had expected for Kakashi's team to be here, but was surprised to find them away with a note that the team would return at two for the sparring matches. Now it was five minutes before that time. Well, she would have to wait. One minute before the planned time Kakashi appeared in a body flicker.

"Hello Kurenai, good to see you and your team are already here. My team should also arrive any moment. I am having them train sealless replacement. I just need to place the logs in place." Kakashi said, unsealed three logs and placed them on the ground.

The first to appear was Naruto, who didn't look like this exercise was very hard. Two minutes later Sasuke appeared. Sakura didn't get it done sealless, but didn't want to have team eight waiting any longer and used the jutsu with seals but nearly no smoke.

"We will train that more in the future and it will be your homework for the weekend to get at least one sealless replacement jutsu working." Kakashi told her.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei." She answered, hating that he made her look bad in front of Sasuke.

"Okay, did you inform your team about the process, Kurenai?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, I told them last week. They are eager to find out how far they have come so far." She answered.

"Okay, I guess then we start with drawing matches." Kakashi said and held out a tin with three papers in it. He had team eight draw first, then his team followed.

Shino and Sakura got the one, Naruto and Hinata the two and Sasuke and Kiba the three.

"Okay, first match, Shino vs. Sakura, match two Hinata vs. Naruto and match three Kiba vs. Sasuke. Shino, Sakura you have the field." Kurenai said.

The other four sat down on the side. Hinata was close to fainting. Why in the world did she have to fight Naruto? She didn't want to have to fight against him.

"Don't hold anything back in our fight. Don't worry about me; I can take all you can throw at me, Hinata. This is meant to see what we should work on in our training. I know you don't like hurting people, but if you hold back on your comrades in training spars they don't get the feeling for a real fight and it could lead to them getting careless in the field. You don't have to target vital areas in training, but target non vital areas and let your team-mates feel how much your taijutsu style can hurt. They will be more careful in your next spar." Naruto told Hinata.

Hinata was shocked. She never had thought that her holding back because she didn't want to hurt people was hurting them more for the future. She didn't have much time to dwell on the thought though, because Shino had taken out Sakura extremely fast. She had run screaming from his bugs until they had shut her up by sucking out her chakra.

"Kakashi, please tell me you are working on her bad habits." Kurenai begged.

"I am; I have my team training the whole days. But I have to agree that that was simply embarrassing." Kakashi said sweat dropping. If Sakura continued like that his team would lose points for her continued losses, even if Sasuke and Naruto won. Well, for the first month he was safe from that part of the bet.

Then Naruto and Hinata took their positions. Naruto decided to go with the Namikaze style as the Hyuga's gentle fist style required a style based on speed to counter it properly. He also was best using his bastardised version of the gentle fist with the cheetah style of his father's clan. Hinata obviously tried to hit him and was more determined than Kurenai had seen her before. She should have seen that Hinata's problem was that she didn't want to hurt others. Naruto's simple words had helped her seeing a problem and got her working on overcoming it. It wasn't perfect yet, that would need more time. Hinata still hesitated using her full power with the strikes, but she at least used the chakra when she hit Naruto.

But in the end Naruto was simply too fast. He disabled Hinata's legs with quick simultaneous strikes and she fell down, which he used to get behind her and hold a kunai to her throat. When he was declared winner, he helped Hinata up again.

"How do you know gentle fist?" Hinata asked confused that somebody outside her clan could use one of their techniques.

"I don't use the gentle fist. My style is a combination of a taijutsu style and a bastardised form of chakra scalpels like medic nins use. I guess the principle behind my chakra scalpel bastardisation and the chakra shots of the gentle fist is similar enough, but I only can attack anatomy. I can't use it like a Hyuga to attack the chakra network." Naruto explained.

Then he seemed to sink in thought. Sasuke and Kiba took their positions for their fight. Naruto looked at Kurenai.

"Kurenai sensei, did you already test your team for their elemental affinities?" Naruto asked.

"No, I didn't, I think that is a bit early. Why do you ask?" Kurenai asked while still keeping an eye on Kiba's and Sasuke's fight.

"I have the feeling something is off about Hinata's taijutsu. I know that some taijutsu styles have been developed to suit a certain group of elemental users, like the strong fist for lightning elementals. Lightning is an explosive and fast element, just like that style. I have the feeling from the forms Hinata showed that the gentle fist could be based on earth users. But Hinata doesn't seem to be an earth user and therefore had problems." Naruto said.

He knew the gentle fist was an earth style. It had been in the scrolls he had taken from the rubbish bins and copied for his selection, but nobody could know that. Better they believed he had got the idea from watching.

Kurenai was shocked. That sounded like a more than probable theory why Hinata couldn't seem to get a grip of the gentle fist style. Water was weak against earth in the elemental circle. So if Naruto was right and Hinata was a water elemental she needed to adapt her taijutsu to get it to work for her.

"Naruto could have a point there. I know from Gai that the gentle fist is indeed an earth style. You should test your students for their elements and if Hinata is indeed a water elemental or has another element that disrupts the gentle fist by its nature, you should work with her on her own style. You are a water element aren't you?" Kakashi asked Kurenai.

"Yes, I am. I will take the suggestion and take them to Jakonato's after the sparring is over. Thanks for the insight, Naruto. I was aware that something was off, but as I am not a taijutsu specialist, I didn't know what could be done to help Hinata." Kurenai said.

"No problem." Naruto said.

"Yes, thank you, N-Naruto." Hinata said.

Naruto smiled at her, making her face take a very deep red colour.

"Hinata, are you okay? Your face is so red." Naruto asked, putting his hand on her forehead to see if she had a fever.

The contact and the concern Naruto showed her was too much for Hinata and she fainted.

"Hinata? Hinata!" Naruto exclaimed concerned. "Kurenai sensei, Hinata needs a medic." He said.

"Don't worry, Naruto, she will be better soon." Kurenai said, finding it quite funny that a smart boy like Naruto had no idea how much Hinata liked him.

Sasuke had some problems with Kiba's feral fighting style, but thanks to his speed with the replacement jutsu he didn't get hit often and managed to tire Kiba out. In the end he won by nailing Kiba with some shuriken to the ground for a few seconds, tying Akamaru up with ninja wire in those seconds and using the dog as leverage to make Kiba forfeit.

"Shit, you are really fast." Sasuke commented Kiba's performance.

"And you continually replacing yourself with things is extremely annoying. Just you wait, next time I will win." Kiba said, disgruntled that he had been forced to forfeit, but Akamaru was more important than a victory in a training match. And with the way Sasuke had tied his dog up getting him a power boost by food pills wasn't a good option.

"In your dreams." Sasuke said.

Sakura was still out cold, so Kakashi decided it would be a good decision to bring her home and give Sasuke the afternoon off. Sasuke gladly accepted his free afternoon and after hearing team eight would go to Jakonato's to get some chakra paper to test the genin's elemental affinities, he just accompanied them, intending to get some sealing scrolls and look what else was offered there. He would be better prepared in the future for whatever ideas for exercises Kakashi got next.

"Kakashi sensei, do you have time for me to test how much I can do in a fight with my resistance seals released?" Naruto asked after the others had left.

"Sure, Naruto. Just let me get Sakura back home and get used to your full speed for a while. Then we can have that fight." Kakashi said.

He lifted Sakura from the ground and disappeared in a body flicker. Naruto released his resistance seal and started going through some movements to get used to his full speed again. Kakashi returned ten minutes later, not in a good mood. Sakura's mother had thrown a fit about the condition of her daughter and demanded to know how it happened. So Kakashi told her that in a training fight against Shino Aburame she was shown just why the Aburame clan was feared. He had left before Isami could get in a row.

"Ready, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei." Naruto answered.

He was standing in the opening stance of the Uzumaki style, the tides' fist. Contrary to the cheetah fist that was mainly based on speed, the tides fist was a flowing style. It had a change between fast and strong attacks like the flood, and flowing, slower attacks that were not meant to cause damage, but distract an opponent. Naruto had also added his bastardised gentle fist and therefore increased the damage the style could deal an opponent. Kakashi started attacking Naruto with a fast attack, but Naruto avoided the punch, directed to his torso. He took off with his full speed and the fight was on.

* * *

In his office the Hokage watched the fight between Naruto and Kakashi. He was, so far, satisfied with Kakashi's work with his team. He kept them busy, Sasuke and Sakura out of the village during D-rank missions to not have the worship of the villagers badly influence Sasuke, Naruto got a good deal of personal attention from Kakashi while the jonin didn't neglect the other two and Kakashi was working on getting back to his old form. As long as nothing interfered with Kakashi's mission, things would work out. The ROOT agents Danzo had sent were also on a good way with their missions. So far he had found thirty decrees which he would take back. As the Hokage he had the power to change decrees. Only with laws things were different, but those he had always checked very carefully.

If there were any new laws that he didn't remember passing there was more wrong than he thought. So far that area had turned out negatively. But they hadn't got through all years since Minato's death yet. Many things could be hidden in the archives. And he knew the Uchiha had tried to force their will through many times. While Naruto and Kakashi were going into the phase that they were including ninjutsu, it knocked at the Hokage's door.

"Come in." He called and deactivated the crystal ball.

Outside the door were Koharu and Homura, the village elders beside Danzo. They were also his old team-mates under the Nidaime Hokage.

"Koharu, Homura, what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" He asked smiling.

He was on guard. Over the years both his old team-mates had taken a more militaristic view than he liked. And they had been some of the people to treat Naruto like nothing more than a weapon. Homura had been the one to constantly suggest letting Danzo train Naruto to make the boy Konoha's secret weapon. It was one of the reasons he had had to hold onto the hat for so long. Other candidates would have been eaten alive by the council and the elders. He had decades of experience to deal with them.

"Hokage Sama, we are a bit concerned about the reactions to your latest decisions." Homura said.

The Hokage guessed it was the ninja academy curriculum. When Inoichi Yamanaka, Hiashi Hyuga and Utei Kurama had seen the things the students were set to learn and how many hours the timetable dedicated to each area, they had loudly protested. Even the stoic Hiashi was obviously disgusted with how useless the curriculum had become. There was a focus on theory work with a ratio of seventy five per cent theory and twenty five per cent practical. They had sworn to get the curriculum adjusted to more physical training and cutting out useless civilian lessons. The civilian council hadn't been pleased.

"I guess you are talking about the ninja academy." He said.

"Yes, that too. While I can understand that there need to be changes to get a better ratio of those who passed their genin tests, it could lead to problems if the civilian council is completely cut out of the decision what is taught." Koharu said.

"Yes, many civilian parents sent their children to the academy because they thought they had a chance to become ninja with the current curriculum. If it is changed, many will probably send them to civilian schools." Homura added.

"You have seen the current curriculum?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, and while it's not good, I think a few adjustments would fulfil the need for better graduation results better than a radical change of the whole curriculum." Koharu said.

"No, they wouldn't. And regarding your concern for having less civilian students. At the moment, the only thing these children are when they leave the academy and by whatever miracle pass their genin test is cannon fodder." The Hokage stated.

Both his old team-mates looked at him disbelievingly.

"From all civilian students in a class normally only ten per cent have the determination to put in the necessary effort in training to make the cut. Rock Lee from last year is such a case, but his success is mostly due to Gai motivating him properly. But those types that train like crazy on their own to overcome their weakness and turn their only talent into a strength are rare. The three teams that passed this year only have one civilian raised child in them, which is Sakura Haruno."

Both elders nodded.

"Now from Kakashi's reports he doesn't have any problems with the motivation in training of both Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Both boys do whatever exercise he has thought up without complaint, even if he can tell that Sasuke is often close to collapsing. Sakura on the other hand is complaining all the time, has neglected her training during the academy massively and is more interested in getting Sasuke to fall for her than becoming a good kunoichi." He informed them.

"Well, from what we heard over the last weeks Kakashi is training them really hard. It's more than normal that a girl like Sakura from a civilian family has problems adjusting. Nearly all fresh genin would have." Koharu said.

"The only stories that can spread around are those Sakura tells her mother and as she is the one who is worst on her team, it's safe to assume she exaggerates. And with Isami and her ridiculous plans how to get her daughter to marry Sasuke she didn't do her daughter any favours in the past with filling her head with nonsense. I know how the girl behaved in the academy. Outside of the exercises the teachers had them do there, she didn't do any training. Instead she stalked Sasuke like many other girls and invested more time and money in beauty products and body care than in ninja training and training equipment. The only reason she passed is that Sasuke ordered her what to do in Kakashi's test after Naruto flat out told Sasuke the meaning of the test.

"All the other civilian graduates failed the tests of the other jonin senseis. And the one who has the most difficult test is Kakashi. His test is the bell test that I came up with. His has a focus on teamwork, which he makes a bit difficult to realize, but he has the right to try and deceive his students. All the others, while their tests may not directly set the genin against each other, also focus mainly on how they get a set task done together. If they together can't even get the tasks our jonin come up with done after four years, sometimes five years, of training, then something is massively wrong. The civilian council took the power to decide over the curriculum after the Kyubi attack and at that time I was too busy to really think what consequences that change would have. But I won't accept that we only get the clan children as new genin while we waste potential in civilian children due to bad teaching. Remember, Jiraiya was a civilian kid and he became the most powerful of the sannin despite Orochimaru being a genius and Tsunade the granddaughter of the Shodai.

"In a full-out fight Jiraiya would win. So there are talents that can be found. But without the proper training in the beginning, they will quit or be killed early in their career. And it is not the intention of the ninja program to have genin do D-ranks for a prolonged period of time. They are to learn basic skills, promote teamwork and get them used to missions similar to the D-rank ones which just are of a higher profile. Otherwise I wouldn't even allow the civilians to hand in requests for chores to be done by our genin. I mean, weeding a normal garden and baby-sitting could be done by civilian children that want to earn more pocket money." The Hokage explained.

Both elders had to agree. In their times the time a team did D-ranks had been shorter on average. They were used to get a team through the consolidation process during which a sensei worked on their basic skills and trained them in chakra control. Normally the jonin also got them two or three jutsus over the first six months to increase their skills. Intermixed with the occasional rare C-rank to get a team used to the outside world and not have the overeager ones get too bored in the village.

"Is there a reason that in the village only teams eight and ten are seen doing missions? I haven't seen team seven over the past three weeks since the teams were confirmed to have passed." Homura asked.

"Yes, there is, but it's between Kakashi and I what the reason is. Just know I have a good reason why teams eight and ten are the face for the new generation." He said.

"But wouldn't it be good for our funds and the public relations to have Sasuke do missions that are seen by the villagers?" Koharu asked.

"That may be, but the reasons to have team seven do the missions they are doing are more important than a few more D-ranks." The Hokage said.

Homura pondered over the reasons. He had been a ninja all his life and knew the reasons that normally led to a genin not having contact with the villagers for a prolonged period of time. He would have to observe for a while longer to get the right conclusion. Hiruzen didn't seem willing to tell them more. He was back to his old persona. This was the God of Shinobi, not the kind grandfather that watched over the village.

"Then I just have one last question. Do you have a prospective successor? We all know that you are only holding onto the office until you find somebody that can take over." Homura said.

"Yes, and I will announce my successor during the finals of the chunin exams that begin in a bit more than five months." He said.

"So you aren't going to tell us before?" Koharu asked.

"No, not yet. My successor has one last mission to do that doesn't need more public attention with me naming him successor." The Hokage informed them.

They nodded. Secrecy was part of a ninja's life after all. They both bid the Hokage goodbye and left the office.

* * *

**Okay, another chapter done.**


	12. First C-Rank Mission

**Hi, here is the new chapter. Happy reading.**

* * *

**First C Rank Mission**

It was the end of the first month and the three jonin senseis for the rookie teams met in a bar. They had planned on reviewing their success in training their teams over the last month.

"I am really satisfied with how far my team has come. While there is still much work to do, they are a well-working unit and know how to combine their clan techniques to reach good results in my fake missions." Kurenai said.

She had not taken as many missions as the other teams; instead she simulated some to train her team's specialty, tracking, better.

"By the way, I think they are ready for some resistance seals now. Kakashi, would you mind coming around tomorrow to place them?" She asked.

"Sure, I can leave my team alone over lunch break. So I can get to it around one tomorrow. Asuma, do you also want the seals for your team?" He asked.

"Yes, I have already forewarned them. While Shikamaru thinks it is troublesome and is thoroughly unmotivated, forcing him to train even if he doesn't want to can only be good for him. The only one motivated on my team is Ino and she only wants to not lose to Sakura in getting Sasuke's attention. She thinks if she and her team are weak Sasuke will never notice her." Asuma sighed.

"I see, well, placing the seals doesn't take more than five minutes per person, so I could do your team after I did Kurenai's. Hm, seems like my team gets a longer lunch break tomorrow." Kakashi mused.

"That's something I also wanted to know. How comes you are following such a rigid schedule with your team? And why are all the missions you take practically completely out of public sight?" Kurenai asked.

"Ah, I just need to get Sasuke away from the worship of the villagers. He needs to realize that nobody will just fall to his knees because he is an Uchiha in a fight. The villagers put that idiotic idea in his head. The Uchihas were also always very arrogant and arrogance can lead to death on a mission. Sasuke's father Fugaku especially was a very proud and arrogant man and convinced that being an Uchiha made you practically royalty. As the villagers treated Sasuke like a pampered Prince after the massacre, he didn't learn that nobody outside the village would give a damn about it. My harsh training and keeping my team isolated from the villagers is meant to remedy that idea quickly.

"I also don't want to have Sakura think she could slack off on missions. Those missions your teams do are ones that would give her too much time swooning over Sasuke without repercussions. If she does that on higher ranking missions, it can get her or her team-mates killed. I won't let that happen. Sakura is one of the worst fangirls I've ever seen. I know that girls crushing on one boy or another is normal at that age, but if they want to be ninjas, they have to know when they can act on it and when not. Sakura was raised with the goal of her mother to have her daughter marry into a rich clan and Sasuke as the sole heir of the Uchiha fortune is a prime candidate. Asuma, while Ino is also crushing on Sasuke, is lucky that Ino is from a ninja clan and knows that she has to put her missions first and not to completely neglect her training. He has a better base to work with.

"And you are the really lucky one, Kurenai. Hinata never showed any signs of being a fangirl and wants to become strong enough to prove herself to her father and her clan. While she is timid, with the right support and good team-mates that show her they have her back, she can get over that. And I have the feeling your team is well-suited for it. Kiba as an Inuzuka was raised with the mentality that the pack is the most important thing to protect, which for him includes his clan and his team. Shino as an Aburame knows about hive mentality and while he needs to get better in social contacts, he will always protect his team-mates and will work to improve the overall strength of a team. You have known Hinata for years and are well-suited to help her with the confidence issues." Kakashi said.

"Yes, I am glad I got such a good team. And since Naruto pointed out the potential dangers Hinata puts her team-mates in by holding back in taijutsu training, she is getting better. I tested them on their elemental affinities and Naruto was right, Hinata is a water element. I looked up a few taijutsu styles that are based on water to help her adapt her gentle fist to her element. She seems much happier now that she can develop her own version of the gentle fist. It will need some time until she has it workable, but the first few katas she adjusted work well enough." Kurenai informed them.

"I am curious, what elements did the other two have?" Asuma asked.

"Shino is an earth element and Kiba a lightning element." She answered.

"Did you also test your genin on their elements, Kakashi?" Asuma asked.

"Yes. Interestingly Sasuke is a lightning element, but due to his fire element training from his clan he also has a strong secondary fire affinity. Sakura is an earth element and Naruto, well his primary element is wind, but he also has a strong secondary affinity for water and a nearly equally strong affinity for lightning. Normally you only get that after years of training and training up your affinities. And if I say he is a wind element, I mean he can control the wind instinctively." Kakashi said.

"Really? Impressive, even I am not that good with wind manipulation. I wonder where he got the information on how to train those affinities. They aren't part of the normal library. Seems he is more of a mystery than everybody thought." Asuma commented then sinking into deep thought. Kakashi suspected he might be up to Naruto's disguise as he had been the one to test the blond's abilities.

"Indeed. By the way, how did the matches of your teams go?" Kakashi asked.

"Shino won against Choji, Shikamaru won against Kiba and Hinata won against Ino." Kurenai said grinning.

"So we have four victories for my team from Sasuke and Naruto. Each of them has two. Then Kurenai has three victories, two from Shino and one from Hinata. Asuma has two one from Shikamaru and one from Ino." Kakashi summarized.

"Yes. And next month we wanted to have them do team matches. Or would you rather have them do a task?" Asuma said.

"I think a team obstacle course would be a good exercise. You did teach them tree walking, right?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, they all can do it by now. So we could include that in the course. If you want, I will design a course and show my ideas to you in three days." Kurenai offered.

"Sounds good to me." Asuma said.

"No complaints from me either." Kakashi answered.

* * *

At nine in the morning on Monday morning Team seven stood in front of the Hokage and the chunin on duty in the mission office.

"Team seven present for a C-rank mission, Hokage Sama." Kakashi announced.

Sasuke and Naruto perked up. They would finally get a better mission than those D-ranks. Sakura just hoped she would get by. The last month of training had been hell. She hadn't thought that ninja life was so taxing. In her mother's plans it always sounded so easy and glorious. You went to the academy, got placed on a team under a jonin sensei, got taught a few things over one or one and a half years, in the best case you had one or two cute and rich boys from an important clan on the team, seduced one and in the end you retired and raised your children. During missions the boys did all the hard work, while you were a proper lady and only needed your female guile to do the job.

That was complete rubbish.

While she was on the same team as Sasuke, the richest and cutest of all the boys in her class, she simply didn't have any time to even ask him out on a date. She couldn't take care of her body like she did in the academy and instead of letting her hair open so Sasuke could admire its length and silkiness, Kakashi had ordered her to either tie it up or cut it as it would only get in her way. She would never just cut it and so she now wore her hair in a ponytail. She hated that she looked more like Ino this way. And while she had tried to follow the low fat diet her mother had come up with, it just didn't work. If she kept to vegetables, fruit and low fat meat, she didn't have the energy to last through training and Kakashi sensei didn't care at all. He just told her she knew what she should eat and if she didn't follow her sensei's instructions she had to deal with the consequences.

So she had told her mother that she needed normal rice balls and sushi for lunch to get through training and not look weak in Sasuke's eyes. While her mother hadn't liked her decision, she had complied. The change in food helped, but as it only came up to the amount of food a normal civilian who did physical work for half a day, she still felt powerless at the end of the day while she could see that Sasuke adjusted to their level of training after two weeks. He was even occasionally discussing strategies with Naruto. With Naruto of all people. Why did he accept Naruto and not her? The only explanation she had was that he saw her as too weak for him. So she had started to make her own lunchboxes. It was more or less the same food Kakashi had given them over the first week of training.

It helped her get through the days. If she ate properly for breakfast, for which her mother still slept, and lunch, she had no problems to eat low fat and mostly salad and fruit in the evenings. She just hoped she wouldn't become ugly from all the muscle she was building up.

"So you think your team is ready for an easy C-rank. Let's see what I have here. Ah yes, this one should only take you two days and considering the training you put them through, it should be easy to do. This is a protection and transport of important supplies for our village. We get a new delivery of medical herbs, rare poisons, special earth and water every month for our hospital. The new delivery has arrived just yesterday evening at the port in Tea Country. You are to take your team to Tea Country, take over the shipment and seal the boxes with the goods in sealing scrolls. After that you are to bring the scrolls back to Konoha." The Hokage said.

"Mission accepted, Hokage Sama. Team, get your equipment for a C-rank mission, we are meeting in thirty minutes at the main gate." Kakashi said.

"Understood." All three answered and left through the door.

* * *

At the announced time the three genin stood at the main gate, waiting for Kakashi. He appeared in a body flicker.

"Okay, show me your equipment." Kakashi said.

As this was the first C-rank mission, he wanted to make sure his genin had the proper equipment. Sasuke was first.

"Thirty shuriken in my thigh pouch, twenty kunai in my back pouch, three spools of ninja wire, five explosive tags and one first aid kid sealed in a scroll also in the back pouch. In my backpack I have four sealing scrolls. One for clothes, one for camping equipment, consisting of a sleeping bag, a pot for cooking, metal plate, cup, fork, knife and spoon and a two person tent. The third one is for various boxes and the fourth one for extra weapons. I have three days' worth of Jakonato's best ration bars and some basic toiletries." Sasuke listed.

"Good work. Next, Sakura." Kakashi said.

Sakura gulped hopefully she wouldn't be scolded. Her equipment was nowhere near as complete as Sasuke's.

"I have twenty shuriken in my thigh pouch, twenty kunai, one spool of ninja wire, two explosive tags, a flash bomb and a first aid kit in my hip pouch. I have a change of clothes, a sleeping bag and a one person tent in a sealing scroll, some toiletries and a set of extra shuriken in my backpack." Sakura listed.

"Take an example from Sasuke what you forgot to pack. While this C-rank mission is a short one and will only take two days and we will be able to eat in Tea Country, you always have to be prepared for the unexpected. On a mission it can happen that you are forced to take alternative routes while transporting something valuable. So don't rely on being able to get food easily. Last, Naruto." Kakashi said.

"Practically the same things in my pouches like Sasuke except that I have two thigh pouches, one with shuriken, and one with senbons. My first hip pouch resembles Sasuke's, my second one contains my sealing supplies and two ration bars. I have ten pre-made normal explosive seals, five modified ones, five flash seals, two chakra storing seals, and two mass storage seals with water. In my backpack I have totally six filled storage scrolls and five empty reserve storage scrolls Of the filled scrolls one is for various weapons, one for sealed food, one for camping equipment, version J-3, one for transport devices, one with additional sealing supplies for greater scale fuinjutsu and one for clothes. In the pockets on my vest I have my selection of poisons and a container with food pills and one with blood replenishing pills." Naruto listed.

Sakura's mouth hung open. What the hell was camping equipment version J-3 and those seals Naruto had mentioned and where did he get them? And why did he have mass water storage seals with him?

"Well, they say you can never be overly prepared." Kakashi commented. "We will travel as fast as we can. We will run for three hours then we will rest for half an hour and run another three hours. After that we should have reached the border to Tea Country from where on we will travel at a slower speed to not appear hostile to the military forces of the country. For this mission I will give you control over the resistance seals. In case of a fight, which isn't that probable, but I won't take any risks, you can release your seals and use your full speed and strength. Once we return, I will take that control away again."

Kakashi made a few handseals and put his hand on the seals of Sasuke and Sakura.

"Leave the seals activated until you need to release them. You are still in your training phase after all. I will give you full control over your seals after we have done training for four months. At that point you should have reached high chunin speed with the training we are doing." Kakashi said.

"I have a question, sensei, well, it's more a question to Naruto. How good are you really with fuinjutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I need to wait for a specialist to really evaluate my skills, but I am way better than I showed until now." Naruto said.

"Ah yes, now that you mention it, he will arrive in one week for your test." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded.

"Are you willing to sell me some of those specialized seals you mentioned?" Sasuke said.

"As long as you pay the normal prizes, sure." Naruto answered.

Sasuke nodded. He had the money and as long as he could get those seals easily, perhaps even some that weren't readily available at Jakonato's or restricted for higher ranks it wouldn't matter to him.

"Okay, now that that's done, let's go." Kakashi said and had his team move out.

* * *

The journey to Tea Country had gone without problems. Konoha and Fire Country were on friendly terms with Tea Country, so when they changed to visible travel after passing the border, they weren't stopped by the Tea Country military. They reached the harbour of Tea Country around six in the evening. Kakashi told them to find an inn where they could eat, after that he would show them a place where they could put up their tents.

While Sakura wondered why they couldn't just stay in the inn overnight, she knew better by now than to question her sensei. Kakashi went to check the shipment for Konoha so they could seal it in the morning. After having a nice dinner in the inn, Kakashi showed them the place where ninjas from Konoha normally camped on this mission. As it came up every month once or twice, the local administration had just reserved a spot for the team that got the supplies. Sasuke and Sakura were tasked with setting up the tents, Kakashi checked the area for any nasty surprises and Naruto secured the area with some seals that would keep enemies out and give them some nasty injuries if they tried to force their way through. If any of the local military members wanted to talk to them all they would need to do was calling out to them after all.

The night was quiet though and at seven in the morning Kakashi let them have breakfast from a few supplies he had got in the village last evening. Milk, a few eggs boiled in a pot, some rice and vegetables. After eating and a short morning warm up of running up and down a tree ten times and then a few exercises Kakashi led his students to the harbour. There they were greeted by the head merchant who coordinated the shipments for Konoha.

"Ah, good morning. Is that you, Kakashi? I think the last time I saw you, you were about the age your students are." The old man said.

"Yes, it's me. I didn't think you would remember me after all this time." Kakashi said.

"That hair and that mask are nothing you easily forget. And you did this mission pretty often during the war when the other two were still too inexperienced to go to the front lines. Even if your sensei normally didn't accompany you. Now why don't you introduce me to your team?" The old man asked.

"Sure, this is my genin team, team seven; from left to right they are Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki. Team seven; this is Marakomo Takamishi, the head merchant that has been supplying Konoha with the goods we are going to transport for decades." Kakashi said.

"Did you say Uzumaki? A real Uzumaki?" Mr Takamishi asked surprised.

"Did you know the Uzumaki clan?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed. I travelled to Whirlpool Country quite often as Uzushio was allied with Konoha. It's a shame what happened to the village. I had thought they got all the Uzumakis back then. But as I see one must have survived in Konoha. Who are your parents, Naruto?" Mr Takamishi asked.

"Sorry, I don't know. I'm an orphan. The Hokage only told me, that Uzumaki was my mother's name." Naruto said.

"Ah, too bad. Great ninjas the Uzumakis. Devils with those seals they created. And damn good with a sword as well. I once had a guard for my ship from Uzushio in the second great war. I was a young sailor back then. We were attacked by Kiri nin. But even the sword fighter they had with them didn't stand a chance against Zoria Uzumaki. It was one of the most impressive fights I have ever seen, and I have seen a lot." Mr Takamishi said. "Well, enough of the past, you and I have jobs to do. Kakashi, you inspected the goods yesterday, was everything in order?"

"Yes, like always everything we ordered is there in top quality, Marakomo." Kakashi answered.

"Okay, are your students trained in sealing things in scrolls?" Mr Takamishi asked.

"They are. By the way, Naruto, we need three more scrolls, I checked the ones we got at the mission office yesterday evening and three are too old that I can safely say they can be used." Kakashi said.

"No problem, Kakashi sensei." Naruto offered and took out three of his five empty storage scrolls.

Kakashi coordinated where they got to work and after one hour all the crates and boxes were safely sealed away and the scrolls in the genins' backpacks.

"It was nice seeing you again, Kakashi." Mr Takamishi said when team seven was ready to leave again.

"Likewise, Marakomo. I guess we'll do this mission again in the near future. So we'll be seeing us soon." Kakashi replied.

"Well, perhaps next time I can invite you for lunch. You were really fast with your work. It shows that you trained them well, Kakashi." Mr Takamishi said.

"Thank you. Goodbye." Kakashi said.

"Goodbye." The three genin also said.

Kakashi led his team out of the village and once they were outside he increased their travelling speed to low running speed. They would speed things up once they were out of Tea Country.

* * *

Team seven reached the gates of Konoha without interruption late in the afternoon. Kakashi signed them in and led them to the Hokage tower to deliver the scrolls and give the short report. Normally the team that got the mission would deliver the scrolls to the hospital directly, but with their animosity towards Naruto, he didn't want to give them the chance. When they entered the mission office Kurenai and team eight were just busy with debriefing.

"Team eight back from D-rank mission to weed the garden at Mrs Ukunari's. Mission successfully completed, the garden was clean after two hours." Kurenai said and handed over the signed mission scroll. "Performance of my genin will be in the written report."

"Okay, noted. Next." The chunin said.

"Team seven back from C-rank mission to get delivery from Tea Country for the hospital. No problems during the mission. We got to Tea Country harbour in about eight hours. The goods are the usual quality and are sealed in these twenty storage scrolls. Three of the scrolls from the armoury that were supplied to my team for the mission were too old to be safely used and were replaced by Naruto Uzumaki from his private stock. He needs to get them either back or replaced by new ones after the goods are unsealed at the hospital. I recommend a check of our stocked seals that are older, like the storage scrolls, by Dark Phoenix. Performance of my students will be in my written report." Kakashi said.

"Why did team seven already get a C-rank mission, Kurenai sensei?" Kiba complained.

"Because they got special training and Kakashi is one of the strongest jonin in the village. You will be taking C-ranks once you are proficient in the basic skills for the higher ranked missions and have done the required number of D-rank missions." Kurenai answered.

"What does the strength of Kakashi sensei have to do with the decision, Kurenai sensei?" Hinata asked. Her stuttering had lessened a lot, even if she still had a long way to go.

"In case something unplanned happens that is above the abilities of the genin, the jonin sensei will protect them. And the more inexperienced a team is, the stronger the jonin sensei needs to be to make sure the team will be safe. I was only promoted to jonin half a year ago; Kakashi has been a jonin since he was thirteen." Kurenai explained.

All the genin were impressed hearing that and looked at Kakashi in awe. Even Naruto was very impressed by that.

"Okay, team seven, you can go home, be at the gates tomorrow morning at six like usual." He said.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei." They said.

"Team eight, you're also dismissed. Meeting is tomorrow at eight in our training ground." Kurenai said.

"Yes, Kurenai sensei." Team eight answered.

"Dark Phoenix?" Kurenai asked Kakashi once the genin were outside.

"The new sealing specialist the Hokage has hired for supplying the village with seals. The former one died a few weeks ago and Dark Phoenix replaced him. For security reasons he is only known by the codename." Kakashi explained.

"So that's the reason for the new seals in the armoury and at Jakonato's." The chunin in the mission office said. "When I got the scrolls for your mission, Kakashi, I saw that the stock has been filled up and that some new variants have been added."

"Indeed. From what Hokage Sama told me, Dark Phoenix is really good." Kakashi confirmed.

"So you got to meet Mr Takamishi again. How was he?" Kurenai asked.

"Cheery as always. Told some old stories while we were sealing the boxes and crates. This time from when he had just started sailing on a merchant ship and they were entered by Kiri ninjas in the second war." Kakashi said.

"Ah, yes I remember when my team got that mission; he was always good at telling stories." Kurenai remembered.

"That he is. Well, I'll be off." Kakashi said.

"Me too, I have planned meeting Anko tonight." Kurenai said.

"Have fun." Kakashi said and left in a body flicker.

* * *

**And done. Till next time.**


	13. Investigation Results

**Investigation Results**

Danzo and the Sandaime Hokage sat in the completely sealed Hokage office, looking over the results the investigation by the ROOT agents had had.

"This is more troubling than I thought. I was aware that you had overlooked quite a few decrees that weren't to the best of the village, but even I didn't know it were this many." Danzo said.

"Me too. And I suspect I didn't overlook all of them, but that somebody that had access to the stamp of the Hokage did get some passed secretly. As I didn't check all the decrees that went over my desk in detail because I simply didn't have the time, I'll allow to think that some were passed by me, but many of these here I would have stopped for sure. And if there had been an overly large amount of decrees that were placed on my desk I would definitely have got suspicious earlier. The stamp is kept in the Hokage's office all the time and the tower is guarded by the ANBU. So somebody inside the tower has got access or somebody copied the stamp and slipped the stamped decrees into the outgoing paperwork." The Hokage mused.

Danzo nodded. He had thought that Sarutobi had got senile in his old age, but even he would immediately say that those many decrees that were passed in the last twelve years that he hadn't been aware of were impossible. There was more wrong in the village than he had thought and had wanted to change by becoming Hokage himself.

"My ROOT have also found quite a number of listening devices all over the village and detected four probable spies. They are well-hidden, but we are keeping them under constant watch now. We hope to follow the small fishes we identified to the bigger ones. We also noticed a strange sealing array in the old Uchiha district. As far as I know Jiraiya is coming here next week. He should look at the seal and tell us what it is." Danzo said.

"Yes, that will be best." The Hokage agreed.

"How do you want to proceed with the problem with the shopkeepers that are overcharging on the taxes?" Danzo asked.

The ROOT agents had found out that over sixty per cent of the shop keepers demanded two per cent more taxes on the goods than the Hokage had allowed. With that great number nobody had ever detected anything when they just bought their normal groceries. They had just assumed it were the costs for delivery and the like that made them more expensive.

"Well, they'll get messages that massive additional payment on taxes plus a fee for tax evasion is to be paid to the village coffers. They can decide if they want to keep their prices like they are or lower them to the appropriate level. No matter what they do, they'll be exposed for their trickery publicly. I'll publish a list with all tax dodgers to make clear that I won't tolerate them. I'll also publish a list with the decrees that are voided as of now. That will take away a good part of power that the civilian council and the wealthy merchants that bribe them have in the village. And I'll make sure Naruto is out of the village when I do this. I'm relatively sure they will try to vent their anger on him and there is no possibility to say what he will do in retaliation." The Hokage said.

"You don't talk about pranks, do you, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked.

"No, I talk about at least broken bones and at worst massive damage from wind elemental jutsus. Naruto won't take the abuse anymore. He is too close to exploding. And he has the skill to back his threats up." The Hokage said.

"Shouldn't you keep him under close watch then?" Danzo asked, wanting to know the reason why the Hokage didn't do it.

"What do you think Kakashi is doing all day? I'm no idiot, Danzo. Kakashi is doing damage control before things get out of control. There is a reason I put him as the sensei of team seven and it's not Sasuke's potential sharingan." The Hokage said.

"Hm, an interesting deception you came up with. Everybody in the village and outside will assume his main job is getting Sasuke Uchiha ready and training him in using his sharingan once it awakens. But with him being one of the ninja in the village that always kept Uzumaki safe and who doesn't hate the boy, you bind Uzumaki closer to the village. The training matches with teams eight and ten have the same intention, getting more ties to the village so in case something happens to you, his main tie at the moment. If he feels accepted by his peers, he won't be as tempted to desert the village as he might otherwise be. The effect is increased as all members of teams eight and ten are the children of the current heads of their clans. So he will be on good terms with the future shinobi council. And it would be fatal for the village to lose the power of the Kyubi and Uzumaki's own impressive skills to another village like Kumo." Danzo said.

"I see you haven't got stupider in your old age, Danzo. The only way Naruto can manage to have an easier life in the village is to be accepted by those he will be working with in the future. I'm absolutely sure that he will be promoted to chunin after the exams in Konoha. Therefore he will be leading teams of genins on missions soon. From what I have heard from the senseis for the new teams there are some really talented ones this year. Some won't be ready by the time the exams come to Konoha. But the teams will be able to get through the first two phases and show the world the power of Konoha's new generation. And these genin represent the most well-known clans we have. Nearly all of them are the clan heirs." The Hokage said.

"Yes, indeed an important generation." Danzo agreed.

They continued to plan how to get the embezzled money back into the village coffers.

* * *

It was Friday and the three jonin senseis had called their teams for the first team task of their bet.

"Okay, today you are going to show your skill in teamwork. We have set up an obstacle course you will have to complete as a team. Each team will go through the course timed and watched by us. There are certain criteria we will be looking for, but we won't tell you what they are until the course is absolved by all teams. We will decide which team will do the course first by drawing matches. The longest match will go first, then the second longest and the shortest last." Asuma explained.

He held out his hand with three matches for Kakashi and Kurenai. They both drew one match and then compared the length.

"Okay, team ten goes first, then team eight and last team seven." Kurenai said.

Teams seven and eight sat down while team ten walked to the starting line.

"The course is marked with these markers." Asuma said showing a round paper about the size of a tennis ball. "They are in three colours. One for each team. You have the yellow marker, team eight has the blue marker and team seven has the red marker. You are to collect all markers during the course. The obstacles you'll have to deal with will become obvious when you are on the course. We have placed some chunin in the course that will observe you and take notes on your performances. As we are not objective, they'll give the points for this exercise. They have the lists what to look for. So if you spot Iruka Umino, Kotetsu Hagane or Izumo Kamizuri you'll know that they are part of the test."

The genins nodded and team ten got ready to go. When Kakashi gave the signal, they sped off.

"So how is your new taijutsu style coming along, Hinata?" Naruto asked.

"It's taking time, but I have a better feeling than before. And Kiba and Shino are great. They help me training all the adapted moves and give me pointers how they think I can improve." Hinata answered shyly.

"That's great. I'm sure you'll get it down and then be a force to be reckoned with." Naruto replied.

"You really think so, Naruto?" Hinata asked timidly.

"Sure. You are a good kunoichi; you just need to realize it and train hard to get your taijutsu style to fit you better. And when you get a few surprises in your repertoire that nobody expects you to have, you'll show them all." Naruto said.

"What kind of surprises do you think of, Naruto?" Shino asked.

"Well, every ninja, especially those from a clan that is well-known, should have at least one or two surprise moves that can take an opponent off guard. I mean, take you for example, Shino. You are an Aburame and as soon as an opponent finds that out and has some information on your clan in general they will know that you work with your symbiotic bugs. So they will use attacks that can keep your bugs away from them or are generally effective against them like wide spread elemental attacks. Or they could, if they have the time and the materials come up with bug repellent or bug spray. Now if you could also use for example kenjutsu, you would have an advantage they didn't expect. I know that Aburames thanks to housing the bugs have very little chakra that can be used for jutsus outside your clan techniques. So perfecting using a weapon would give you an ace." Naruto explained.

"That sounds logical. I'll have to think about it. What would you think Hinata could learn?" Shino asked nodding his consensus to the suggestion.

"Hm, at least some ninjutsu to give her distance attacks. The gentle fist style is a close range style. But I think with her great chakra control she would gain the biggest advantage with genjutsu. She could trap her opponents in a genjutsu and then strike quickly." Naruto said.

"And what about me?" Kiba asked interested.

"Hm, you specialize in a feral taijutsu style in cooperation with Akamaru. That gives you short and middle range. What is your element, Kiba?" Naruto asked.

"Lightning." Kiba answered.

"Then your first step once you have mastered the basic chakra control exercises, meaning doing them instinctively without thinking about it in every situation, could be to incorporate lightning in your style. If you covered your hands in lightning before you hit an opponent, the attack would be more devastating. Depending on how good you learned to control it, you could activate and deactivate it with a simple thought which meant it would be harder to figure out just what you did. I don't think normal weapons would work for you, as it would be hard to include in your normal style. I don't know if that is a crazy idea, but can Akamaru use jutsus?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, he can. You mean he should learn some jutsus as nobody would expect a dog to use them?" Kiba asked.

"Yes. And branch out from what your clan normally does. I'm not that knowledgeable about how you train your dogs, only that your combination attacks can be devastating." Naruto answered.

"Team eight, your turn." Kakashi called and they saw that team ten had returned.

Team ten got some instructions and then sat down.

"How was it?" Sakura asked.

"Sorry, we got orders to not tell you anything." Shikamaru said.

"We should have expected that much." Sasuke said.

"So, how is training with the resistance seals? You got them placed last week, didn't you?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, we did. They are so troublesome. I feel so slow. While I don't like haste, that's being ridiculous." Shikamaru answered.

"Ah, I'm sure I know a good way to get you used to them faster." Naruto said.

"What is that way, Naruto?" Ino wanted to know.

"Don't tell her, she'll be even more troublesome." Shikamaru pleaded.

"Shut up, Shikamaru. I won't be held back by your constant laziness." Ino shot back.

"Okay, the way you get used faster to the seals is by sending chakra to your muscles. Once you are used to the seals with chakra and can move like before, you reduce the amount of chakra until you don't feel the seals without chakra anymore. And if you want to motivate your team-mates into more training, well, let me tell you that hunting others with senbons and the like lets them run faster." Naruto said grinning evilly.

"Sadist." Sakura mumbled.

"Be glad that Kakashi sensei only allows my clones to pepper you with rubber balls during the dodging exercises." Naruto gave back.

"What kind of dodging exercises does your team do?" Choji asked.

"Insane ones." Sakura answered.

"Funny ones." Naruto said. "I get to surround all members of our team with shadow clones and pelt them with rubber balls or in Kakashi sensei's case with senbons. Though I'm not allowed to use the poisoned ones sadly."

"Like I said, insane." Sakura said.

"Your sensei participates in your training?" Choji asked surprised.

"He doesn't only participate; he does more physical training than even Naruto. But that could have been expected by a former ANBU. We are really getting stronger under him." Sasuke said.

"Did you learn any new jutsus, Sasuke?" Ino swooned.

"No, not yet, but we learn tricks to better use the ones we already know. Kakashi sensei told us we would learn some jutsus once he finishes our basic training; should happen at the end of the month." Sasuke answered contently.

He had first been disgruntled that Kakashi wouldn't teach them any new jutsus before their basic training was done, but once he had experienced just what Kakashi considered basic training, he wasn't as angry anymore. He knew he was building up his body strength and his speed; he was bettering his chakra control and his reserves and learned many important skills for missions. He had found out about practical methods to ease transport, how to think like a ninja and improve his overall awareness. Kakashi was strict, fair but also had a sense of humour. And he knew how to train really hard. It was perfect to get closer to Itachi.

"Team seven, your turn." Kakashi called while team eight just ran over the finish line.

* * *

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto went to the start line. Kurenai gave the signal and they were off. Naruto took point, Sakura the middle and Sasuke the rear.

"Okay, keep your eyes open for the red markers." Naruto said in a business-like voice.

Both his team-mates knew he had changed to mission mode and would treat this with utmost professionalism. Sasuke was the first to spot a marker. Naruto had them stop and look if there were hidden traps. This time there were not and Sakura got the job to collect the marker and store it in her bag. Naruto suspected that this would be graded for teamwork, so they needed to involve Sakura somehow. They took off again and reached the river. In the middle was the next marker.

"So do we need to swim over there next?" Sakura asked.

"Not necessarily. None of the members of teams eight and ten was wet. And I doubt they know water-walking yet. So there has to be another way to do this. Look around if there is a clue somewhere." Naruto commanded.

"Naruto, there is a kunai lying here with a red point on the end of the handle." Sasuke said from the direct shore of the river.

"I guess this is a target practice task then. Perhaps we get the marker if we hit the red marker bull's-eye." Naruto mused.

"Okay. I'll do the throw, you cover me. I don't want to be surprised by any nasty ideas Kakashi sensei could have come up with." Sasuke said and Naruto nodded, taking out his kunai, covering for Sasuke.

Sasuke aimed and hit perfectly. In the place where the kunai had been another kunai with a marker tied to it was thrown at. Naruto looked at the source of the kunai and saw Kotetsu waving from a tree. Sakura collected the kunai and the marker and they continued their quest. The next marker was hidden in a trap field, which they needed to disable before getting the marker, nothing difficult for Naruto. They had to climb a tree to get the next marker from a bird's nest. They let Sakura get it while Naruto and Sasuke fended off the projectiles that Izumo was throwing at them to keep them from getting their marker.

The next part was crossing a slim log over the river, nothing difficult with the tree-walking exercise. The next marker was harder to get. It was down in a pitfall full of hungry foxes. Naruto solved the problem by having Sasuke secure his ankles, hanging down from the log over the pitfall and distracting the foxes with a dead rabbit he had in a storage scroll. When the foxes were done with the rabbit, Naruto was already up long ago.

This obstacle was followed by a crawling course where the genin had to get a marker from under a series of nets. Getting the marker from above wouldn't have worked as the net was made from metal and at the ends lightning seals had been installed that would be triggered if they tried to cheat on this task. Definitely Kakashi sensei's idea. Naruto being the one to be fastest got the marker while Sasuke and Sakura kept watch. Naruto simply transformed into a squirrel to run under the net and get the marker.

The next obstacle was sneaking through a part of the woods where seven bee hives had been placed around the marker. And as they needed to cross the part to get to the finish line, they all needed to get through and couldn't let one member of the team try it alone. Sakura had to contain her fear of insects for this part. She repeatedly told herself that it would be over soon. Sadly she didn't look out for her way, tripped and alerted the bee hive next to her.

"Shit!" Naruto commented and sprang into action. If one bee hive was woken, the others would soon follow.

"Sasuke, we need smoke." He commanded.

Sasuke nodded and shot a modified version of his fire jutsu at the dry grass under the bee hive. It was enough to distract them and slow them down for Naruto making two clones, one taking Sakura, one covering for the team, himself ripping the marker from its position and them all running as fast as they could towards the finish line. The bees close behind them. Thankfully there seemed to be a barrier of some kind that kept the bees contained in a certain area. Once they crossed the finish line the bees stopped and returned to their hives.

Asuma had taken their time and noted it on a clipboard.

"Okay, you're done. Rest and meanwhile Kakashi, Kurenai and I will take the points the three proctors in the obstacle course have given you and add them to the time points." He said.

The three genin of team seven joined their comrades from the other two teams.

"Got the bees mad at you?" Shikamaru asked lazily.

"Yeah, Sakura tripped directly next to a hive and woke them up. We managed to buy some time by Sasuke smoking them out a bit, but we needed to get out of there fast." Naruto said.

"How did you get by that damn obstacle?" Sakura asked.

"Choji's food rations are good for something. He had honey covered biscuits with him. So Shikamaru decided we would place those biscuits around the hives to distract the bees with something better than us and sneaked through, getting the marker." Ino said proudly.

"And we have an expert on insects on our team. Shino just calmed them down with one of his clan jutsus and we got the marker easily." Kiba proudly stated.

"What did you think was the most difficult obstacle?" Ino asked the others.

"The pitfall with the foxes. The damn beasts were especially wild when Akamaru and I passed their pitfall. Hinata got a few bad scratches from them." Kiba answered.

"For us it was the net. It took so damn long to get the marker from under there." Choji said.

"That was no problem for us. I had Akamaru get it. He is small enough to not have any problems with such an obstacle." Kiba answered. "How did you solve that obstacle?" He asked team seven.

"Naruto transformed into a squirrel and got the marker easily that way." Sasuke answered.

Shino and Shikamaru wondered about that. Wasn't the transformation jutsu only an illusion? Perhaps there was an advanced version Naruto knew. With him everything was possible.

Finally their senseis and the three chunin came towards them.

"Okay, we have got the marks Iruka, Kotetsu and Izumo gave you. Totally team seven got sixteen points. Team eight comes to nineteen points and team ten to twenty points. The reasons for the results will be discussed with your jonin senseis tomorrow." Kakashi said.

He was a bit disappointed about the marks of his team, but he had expected them to do even worse with this type of exercise. There had been a huge focus on teamwork and that was definitely a weakness of his team.

"Hah, we won!" Ino cried jubilantly.

She hadn't expected to win, but obviously there had been other criteria than just being fast and getting the tasks done.

Sasuke didn't look happy that his team had come out last. He hated losing. He would need to see what the report from Kakashi would entail tomorrow. Perhaps that last obstacle with the bees had been to their disadvantage.

* * *

In the briefing about the test, team seven found out that the reason the other two teams had been marked better than them was that teams eight and ten had showed better teamwork and more consideration how to solve the tasks. It had been a team decision. In team seven Naruto had mainly given the commands and the others had followed. While they had shown some teamwork in certain tasks like the fox-pit or the bird's nest, in others they hadn't. The bees also didn't look good in their stats. It had been a stealth exercise and with them being forced to forego stealth that had been marked down. Their time had been the best of all teams, but that hadn't been the main focus, but brought their points up a bit.

* * *

**So here is the next chapter. Hope you liked it.**


	14. Jiraiya Returns

**Hi, sorry for the slight delay, but I got the flu and wasn't up to updating over the weekend. So here is the next chapter.**

* * *

**Jiraiya Returns**

Over the next week they stayed in the village, doing training and some D-rank missions as Jiraiya was expected back any day to evaluate Naruto's skills in sealing and nobody wanted to risk Naruto being on a mission when Jiraiya returned. It happened on Friday. Of course Jiraiya had been in the village since Thursday morning, but he had used the chance to get some research done. He visited his sensei on Friday shortly before lunch.

"Hey, Sarutobi sensei, did you miss me?" He called out loudly.

"Jiraiya, it's good to see you. How was your travelling?" The Hokage asked and sent out his ANBU and activated his privacy seals.

"It was good. I'll soon have enough material for my new book. Icha Icha Violence. You said I had to come back to evaluate a potential seal master. Who is it? Did Kakashi go up in his level?" Jiraiya asked.

"No, it's Naruto. I have him supply our armoury and the shinobi equipment shops in the village under the pseudonym Dark Phoenix already. Naruto managed to deceive everybody until after his graduation exams from the academy a bit over a month ago. I had Asuma test him in disguise and Naruto is easily jonin level overall. The only thing he lacks is experience. All the reports I sent you about Naruto's development can be forgotten. I didn't even know he was that good. I thought that while he had some talent, he didn't use it well enough, but I couldn't really do anything about it. With Naruto being a civilian until he graduated, he was under the jurisdiction of the civilian council. And I didn't have the man-power to get him secretly trained except I'd have handed him over to Danzo, which I wanted to avoid at all cost." The Hokage said.

"Damn that is an impressive feat to get to that level so young and additionally keep it a complete secret. How did he get all the training done and got the knowledge? You wrote that you had to exchange the teachers in his class repeatedly to get him some theoretical skills." Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, until I placed Iruka Umino in that class, who, while not liking Naruto, didn't let his personal feelings cloud his professional attitude, Naruto was actively sabotaged. We now found out that as the teachers couldn't keep him out of class all the time, they didn't teach the whole class properly. When he was present they concentrated on topics that while they can be useful for a ninja, aren't vital. Many students failed their genin tests because they didn't get the information that was the most important. I have already initiated some long overdue changes in the village. The academy is now the responsibility of the shinobi council, all ninjas are instructed to ignore the orders of the civilian council as they are not part of the chain of command and I have had some of Danzo's ROOT agents help me looking through the decrees that were passed in the twelve years since Minato died." The Hokage informed his student.

"Do you think it was wise to involve Danzo?" Jiraiya asked.

"It was the only valid option. I can't be sure that the council doesn't have spies of their own in the ranks. While I can order them to not follow orders from the civilian council anymore and can enforce that, I can't be sure that some of them don't give them information. While Danzo and his ROOT are not an openly acceptable part of our military due to Danzo's training methods, you know as well as I do that you sometimes have to have ninjas in your village that take care of threats in ways that wouldn't go over well with our customers. I knew since two months after I ordered ROOT to disband that they didn't but only went underground, literally. There is a system of tunnels under the village where their base is located. I simply put Danzo on the spot. He was informed that I had him in my hand and could easily end him, but as his ROOT were useful, I didn't. While Danzo enjoys the thought to become Hokage through his machinations, he also knows that it's unrealistic to think he could be Hokage long enough or even be considered with his state of body to make a difference in the village." The Hokage explained.

"So you are cleaning house. About time if I may say so. You let the council get away with too many things." Jiraiya said, sitting down on the couch of the office.

"I know, but you also know how instable the political situation was after Minato died. We had lost a third of our shinobi, a quarter of the civilians and on top Minato himself. The clans were fighting for dominance in the village, the civilians were taking over businesses that had lost their owners, dozens of orphans needed to be placed somewhere and people were calling to execute Naruto to kill the fox. The Uchihas were the leaders in all areas. So letting the civilian council have a bit more power at the time seemed to be a small price to not have the village falling apart. If I had shown favouritism towards Naruto, I would have been out of office faster than I could have blinked. And I was his only real line of defence. With not having a suitable successor for Hokage anymore, after all, the only sannin that wanted to have the job turned traitor on us, I needed to keep the office for as long as I could and find a new successor. Which I have now and don't worry, I'm not talking about you. I know you don't want the job." The Hokage said.

"Oh, that sounds interesting. Who is it?" Jiraiya asked.

"Kakashi Hatake. He is at the moment the jonin sensei of team seven, consisting on Sakura Haruno, the daughter of a civilian councillor, Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor after the massacre Itachi committed and Naruto Namikaze." The Hokage said.

"So he knows about his parents and the fox?" Jiraiya asked for confirmation.

"Yes, he knew about the Kyubi since shortly before the Uchiha massacre, he overheard two Uchihas that had beaten him up and left him bleeding in an alley talking that he should die for being the container of the fox, and about his parents he found out coincidentally while cleaning the storage after a prank. He was cut by a falling nodachi in the arm and some blood spilled on the box Minato kept his important documents and a few memorabilia in. I know Naruto has a secret hideout where he lives and trains, but I don't know where it is and he refuses to tell me anything, stating that it is the only safe place in the whole village for him and he had worked too hard to keep it a secret to give it up now. From the test Asuma put Naruto through, he is low jonin level in using weapons, jonin level in taijutsu, high jonin level in ninjutsu, we guess jonin level in genjutsu, but as he is immune to lower level genjutsu, we can't be really sure about it, we need to have a genjutsu specialist test him there. His fuinjutsu is high class, but the last evaluation you should do and he is about solid chunin level in the area of poisons. We give him half a year of missions and training by Kakashi to make chunin, then half a year of leading experience with teams under his command for jonin." The Hokage said.

"Does he know I am his godfather?" Jiraiya asked.

"I haven't told him and he didn't mention it. I don't know if that information was in Minato's or Kushina's journals at their home. Naruto found it after he found the contents of the box and got his family's jutsus, sealing knowledge and some other things from there, but he didn't move in there as it is too well known that his father lived there. He didn't want to have the villagers after his head more than they already were. You'll have to see how he reacts to you. If he knows and holds you responsible for his hellish childhood for abandoning him, you'll have to try to work on your relationship. I know he respects you for your skills in sealing. And if you explained to him why you couldn't take him with you out of the village he'll probably understand it. Naruto is smart and knows to weigh arguments against each other." The Hokage informed Jiraiya.

"Okay, so where would I best meet Naruto?" Jiraiya asked.

"I can either send a messenger to get him here or you could go to training ground seven and watch his team train until they have lunch break. Normally that is around half past twelve. Though it can vary depending on Kakashi's training exercises. He doesn't let his team rest much. That is another point you should know. While Kakashi is getting back to his old strength and will train to surpass his level from his time in ANBU to get ready to take over as Hokage, he is trying to connect both Sasuke and Naruto more with the village. Naruto is a flight risk due to the treatment of the villagers. If they attack him, we'll have to let the medics in the hospital go extra shifts. He won't let them treat him like their punching bag anymore. And you know that attacking a ninja is a punishable offence and the ninja in question is allowed to retaliate. He told me that if he hadn't been sure he would have been hunted by the ANBU and brought back soon after we noticed him missing, he would have left years ago."

Jiraiya realised that this was really serious. The village would never let their jinchuriki go, but it wouldn't do Naruto any good if he got into that situation. And if he was really as good as his sensei said, then in perhaps a year or two he could be too strong for any ANBU to catch him. Konoha didn't need another Itachi out there.

"We horribly failed him. He had figured out that Kakashi is the ANBU who protected him most times in the past and was the one to always be nice to him. Therefore he really looks up to Kakashi. Sasuke was spoiled by the villagers for being the last loyal Uchiha. The Uchihas had the civilian population deceived really well. He has a superiority complex, doesn't take well to being second best and thinks as an Uchiha others are bound to treat him like royalty. Kakashi is keeping his team busy with training, something Sasuke doesn't mind at all as it makes him stronger, but the main intention is to keep the team out of the eyes of the villagers and break his idiotic opinions. I don't want to risk the villagers treating Sasuke like a prince and Naruto like a monster all the time on missions. Naruto is also doing solo-missions through his clones to earn some more money. Mostly they are craftsmen jobs. His reputation very slowly is getting better, but it will take years to get the stupid villagers to accept him as Naruto and not the fox.

"That is time we can't waste. I have given Kakashi orders to put his team through the grinder. He is to strengthen the old bond he had with Naruto, make sure that Sasuke doesn't think he can get stronger outside the village faster than training under Kakashi, and break Sakura Haruno out of her fangirl mentality. That girl is so screwed up, if she hadn't been the only one with at least some useful skills in her class, I'd never have put her on the team, but that class was really bad in their skills except for the clan heirs and they were put together as the next Ino-Shika-Cho team and a tracking team with Hinata Hyuga, Shino Aburame and Kiba Inuzuka." He informed Jiraiya.

"I see. Well, then I guess to evaluate Naruto's skills I better get to meet him personally. Is training ground sixty one free?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, I have reserved it for your use until next Wednesday. Don't mess this up, Jiraiya." The Hokage said seriously.

"Don't worry. I know I have a lot to make up for with Naruto. The least I can do is helping him with his fuinjutsu and see if he is interested in the toad contract." Jiraiya answered.

The Hokage nodded.

"There also is a big unknown seal in the Uchiha district. Please have a look at it after you are done with Naruto's evaluation."

"Will do, sensei." Jiraiya said. "If anything happens, I'll be with Naruto."

Jiraiya left the office through the window.

* * *

On training ground seven Kakashi just finished the morning training of his team and told them they could eat lunch. To the wonder of Sasuke and Sakura Naruto had been more sluggish today. That riddle had been solved when Kakashi asked if Naruto had increased his resistance seal level and got a positive answer. It led to Sasuke silently seething that Naruto was getting even more advanced. While he knew that Naruto was better, he hadn't considered in his calculation that Naruto wouldn't just stop getting better. That led to the realization that Itachi also wouldn't have stopped at his former level. So to be able to kill Itachi he needed to get to Naruto's level first. He knew he was getting stronger through his training with team seven. But it was a punch to his pride that Naruto was already so far ahead and was only getting better all the time.

Then a white haired man landed next to Kakashi.

"Jiraiya Sama, I didn't know you were already back." Kakashi said, greeting the newcomer.

Naruto had perked up at the name Jiraiya.

"Well, sensei told me you had a student for me to evaluate in fuinjutsu, so I came here to take him with me for the rest of the day if you don't mind." Jiraiya said.

"No, that's okay. I was already informed that you would do the evaluation of his level once you were back. By the way, is there a new book coming out soon?" Kakashi asked eagerly.

"Ho, ho, you still are a fan of my great work. Yes, I'm working on Icha Icha Violence at the moment. It should be ready in one or two months." Jiraiya said.

"That's great to hear, Jiraiya Sama. I'm looking forward to it." Kakashi said.

Naruto just shook his head. He had known that Jiraiya of the sannin was a pervert, his father's journal had told him as much, but seeing it in reality was something else.

Jiraiya looked at the three genin and immediately saw the resemblance Naruto had with Minato. While his facial form was different, he definitely was his father's son.

"Okay, Naruto, you're going with me. I have reserved training ground sixty one for the evaluation of your skills in fuinjutsu." Jiraiya said.

"Okay." Naruto answered and stood up. He could as well eat on the way to training ground sixty one.

Jiraiya led Naruto away, leaving the rest of team seven behind.

"Kakashi sensei, who is the white haired man?" Sasuke asked.

"That man is the greatest author in the elemental nations and also Konoha's only acknowledged seal master at the moment, Jiraiya of the sannin. He regularly comes to the village to give the Hokage updates from his spy-network and while he is here, he'll evaluate Naruto's level in fuinjutsu." Kakashi said.

"He's one of the legendary three?" Sakura asked in awe. "Why would he be interested in Naruto and not Sasuke?" She asked.

Kakashi sighed. He had hoped he had got farther with breaking Sakura out of her Sasuke worship.

"I told you why. Naruto is skilled in fuinjutsu, while Sasuke is not." Kakashi answered. There were more reasons but he wouldn't tell his team about them.

Sasuke while irritated that Naruto got attention of one of the sannin and he didn't, knew that with the area Jiraiya excelled at he didn't have a chance to get that attention. And to be honest, he wasn't interested in learning fuinjutsu either. Sure, it was useful to have the seals to use them on missions, but he didn't want to invest the time it took to learn the art. He couldn't use it while fighting Itachi after all. So he rather worked on getting stronger.

* * *

Jiraiya took Naruto to the secluded training ground.

"Okay, I think some introductions are in order. I'm Jiraiya, toad sage of Myobokuzan, wooer of women, amazingly famous author and awesome ninja." Jiraiya boasted, showing an embarrassing dance with a few toads he had summoned.

"Not to forget, super pervert, Dad's sensei and supposedly my godfather." Naruto added glaring at the man.

Jiraiya sobered.

"So you know. I wasn't sure if Minato and Kushina wrote it in their journals." Jiraiya admitted.

"The one question I have is why you didn't ever look after me. When I read about you being my godfather I was so angry. All my childhood I could have had somebody who was there for me, helped me through my life and prevented the assholes in the village, especially the Uchiha clan, from beating me up every chance they got. I had exactly two proper protectors. Two ANBU out of all the many that are under the command of the Hokage. Dog and Weasel. Kakashi and Itachi. And they couldn't be around all the time as they had other missions as well. I know you couldn't have given up your spy-network or taken me with you. I would have been a hindrance as a defenceless child during your travels, **but why the hell didn't you even visit me when you were in the village**?" Naruto shouted in the end.

"I had to find a way to get strong on my own. I'm pretty sure my hideout is one of the old hideouts Orochimaru used. One of the hopefully less creepy ones. There only were a few things that I had to throw out. The rest were things I could use to get stronger. I had to scrounge up weapons from the dead in the Forest of Death after the chunin exams to get proper training weapons because no shop would sell me anything. I couldn't ask any adult to help me, because they either ignored me or tried to beat me. I was only a child, completely on my own. Even old man Hokage couldn't do more than make laws and enforce them. The problem was he couldn't personally take care of everything, not with me being under the jurisdiction of the civilian council. Do you know what it would have meant to me if I had known there was at least one adult that cared for me? What a few hours of training would have done for me?" Naruto asked enraged.

"You have every reason to be mad at me. I won't deny I made mistakes. I had thought about taking care of you, but as you said, it was too dangerous for you and me. I have too many enemies of my own to take a small child with me on my travels. And if you had been with me, Iwa would have added two and two and would have known you were Minato's son. So I trusted sensei to keep you safe until you were old enough for me to train you. You probably don't know this, but in the twelve years of your life I stopped thirty nine assassination attempts from the outside that had you as their target. All the great villages hear rumours and you are a constant topic of the merchant caravan. They talk about that cute blond boy with blue eyes that is so brave and stands on his own two feet living in Konoha.

"You are right; I could have tried to be there for you when I was in the village. And I did try, but you have to realize that I got dealt a massive emotional wound when your father died, fighting the Kyubi. It wasn't your connection to Kyubi that kept me away, it was your looks. You look too much like Minato. I don't have children of my own, Naruto. In the second Great War Suna, which we were fighting at that time, had developed a chemical agent that prevented those that were contaminated by it to ever have children. Tsunade, Orochimaru and I as the sannin were prime targets for them. They also tried to get the White Fang, Sakumo Hatake, Kakashi's father, but he could escape. All of us were contaminated by that chemical. It was a harsh blow, especially for Tsunade. Orochimaru developed a vaccine against it eventually, but for us it was too late.

"When I got my genin team, Minato was the one I bonded with most. I liked all my students, but Minato, especially as he was an orphan like me after his parents had died when he was ten, became like the son I knew I never could have. I taught him all I knew even after my students had been promoted to chunin and my team dissolved. When he told me he wanted me to be your godfather, I was really honoured. But then the Kyubi attack happened and Minato died. I raised you for a year, but that was all I could afford to do as my spy-network needed to be maintained, especially with Konoha being massively weakened. My stay while you were an infant could be easily covered up as a show of strength for the other villages. One of the strongest of the village was there, protecting it. When I came back, you were four. But you looked so much like Minato. I couldn't bear seeing you looking like your father; it tore the wound I had thought had healed open again and again. So I decided as I couldn't be in the village to help you, I would take care to set up a stipend for you so you wouldn't have to depend on the orphan's fund.

"Additionally I left scrolls for you in your apartment when I was in the village. One about hunting and fishing techniques after I found out about the behaviour of the shop keepers, one about farming and some about basic training techniques I thought would help you. I took out all the ones that were sent to eliminate you from whatever village. And I kept an eye on Orochimaru to make sure he never found out about you existing. While your clans didn't have an exact bloodline, the Uzumaki clan had special chakra, a reason why Kumo once tried to kidnap your mother Kushina. Your clan was known for its longevity. And a child with Namikaze, Uzumaki and Senju blood would have been irresistible for him. I am really sorry for what you had to go through, but I did what I could in my own grief." Jiraiya said.

Naruto pondered the answer. He knew Jiraiya was completely honest. He had seen in his eyes that he meant every word. And the money he got from the Hokage each week in person, after in the beginning somebody had tried to steal his money, had been what had got him through the hardest times. He remembered finding those scrolls when he was seven. It had been the start of his changing his ways. He had found out about a way where he wouldn't have to depend on the village to get by. While his godfather hadn't done his best, he also hadn't completely left him to fight on his own. He had done what he could. He had to admit he couldn't really understand the wounds that losing someone left. But he knew that some people had more problems to deal with it than others.

"Okay, while I can't say, I'm happy about it, I understand it somewhat. And at least you tried to help me. That's more than most others did. And those scrolls really were live-savers. They got me independent from the supplies I could buy in the village. Without knowing how to properly hunt and fish and grow vegetables, I would probably still be living off ramen." Naruto shuddered. "I suggest we start from the bottom. I'll give you the chance to get to know me and teach me what you want to. I'll try to keep an open mind about you and not push you away on principle. Don't expect me to trust you though. I have made too many bad experiences." Naruto said.

Jiraiya nodded. It was more than he had been hoping for.

"Okay, now that the air is cleared, I think we have an evaluation of your skills in fuinjutsu to do. Sarutobi sensei said you were of the opinion that you were at a seal master level. How did you come to that impression?" Jiraiya asked.

"I have read every single book about sealing I could find in Konoha. Mostly written by you or Dad. On top of that I studied the Uzumaki scrolls that Mum had. You stated that the level of seal master was signified by the person attempting to get there having to have complete understanding of all the intricacies of fuinjutsu, being able to quickly draw the commonly known seals, modify them to their needs and in the end, once they could tweak existing seals, created their own. Well, I have followed all the steps the books and scrolls described. Once I got the basics down, I found that fuinjutsu was one art that came to me easily. It was just logical for me how it worked. So tweaking seals was not that hard. And I had masses of shadow clones that could test them for me. I designed some variations of exploding seals; my favourite is a trap version that fires poisoned senbons on the one triggering them, for storage seals and chakra suppression seals.

"Then I began creating my own seals. I had read in one of the scrolls I found in my hideout about elemental jutsus and that only jonin level ninja used them. So with my problem with the villagers being out for my life, I decided I needed to learn elemental jutsu. Finding out about my main element was tricky. In the end I nicked a chakra paper while cleaning the armoury as punishment for a prank. I developed a storage seal for elemental chakra once I could use my wind element. I thought once I could use more elements that could come in useful. But after training the water element, which is my secondary, I started thinking about what techniques could get really problematic for me. Fire wasn't much of a problem with the water element as my secondary. Lightning is weak against wind, so only earth remained. I would need a very powerful wind jutsu to really get the upper hand against an earth user.

"I knew that while the primary element in Konoha is fire, there are a lot that are earth and water users. So to not be at a disadvantage, I needed lightning. But simply developing the affinity at my age was impossible. There are restrictions what my body can take. And with lightning being opposed to my primary affinity it would be especially hard. So I decided to consort to seals. I worked for six months on it, but in the end I managed to get a chakra element converter seal. As long as I supply the seal with the element it is attuned to, it converts it into the element I designed the seal for. In my case that was wind turned into lightning. Over time, by using many lightning jutsus, I developed the affinity, so now I don't need to rely on the seal anymore, but if I needed a big amount of lightning chakra that would still be a viable option. I also have some other designs, some that I wanted to discuss with you as I'm not completely sure about some arrays." Naruto told Jiraiya.

Jiraiya was really impressed by what he heard. Many had tried to find a converter seal that worked, but had given up considering the amount of fine tuning it took. If Naruto had found a way, it would indeed validate a sealing mastery. But he would wait until the end to judge his godson's level.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Jiraiya invited Naruto for a meal in one of the Akimichi restaurants. He assured his godson that with him being there nobody would dare to be rude and that the specific restaurant they were headed to was led by his old student Uruho Akimichi. He had been wounded in the third shinobi war and hadn't been able to continue as a ninja, so he had taken up the second profession the Akimichis were famous for and opened a restaurant. It was going very well. While some people were glaring at Naruto entering the restaurant, many knew just whom he was with and nobody wanted to make a sannin mad.

Jiraiya and Naruto were greeted by the owner personally, who looked at Naruto in shock, then at Jiraiya, then back at Naruto and mumbled something about being blind and should have seen it.

"Keep it for you, Uruho." Jiraiya said warningly.

"Of course, Jiraiya sensei, but why was nobody told?" Uruho asked.

"Iwa, Orochimaru, Kumo, Kiri, choose one." Jiraiya said.

"I see. Well, what would you like to eat?" Uruho asked changing the topic.

"Choose what you like, I pay." Jiraiya said. "After all we have something to celebrate."

"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto said and looked over the menu. "I'd like to have the small sushi variations for appetizer, the grilled seafood dish with vegetables and rice for main course and the season salad with yoghurt and herb dressing. And I'd like green tea to drink." Naruto said.

"I'll take the finger-food variations for appetizer, the roasted pork sweet-sour for main course with sweet potatoes and rice. I'd also like a bottle of sake with two cups." Jiraiya said.

"Already trying to corrupt him, Jiraiya sensei?" Uruho asked, writing down the orders.

"Hey, he's a ninja. Old enough to kill, old enough to drink. And I think it would be good he gets a bit of practice before I introduce him to Gamabunta." Jiraiya said, having Naruto perk up.

"You're going to let me sign the toad contract?" He asked surprised.

"Indeed. You've proven you're more than ready to become the next toad summoner. As I told you, I don't have children whom I could pass the contract on to. So I have to resort to my students. And with your father having been my student and the last summoner, I think it is only right if you take up the mantle." Jiraiya said smiling. He kept his voice low to not give others the information.

Naruto couldn't help but smile happily. Summoning contracts were really rare. Konoha having so many of them was a reason it was seen as the most powerful village. Konoha held, as far as Naruto knew, the monkey contract with the Sarutobi clan, the dog contract with the Hatake clan, the turtle contract with the Maito clan, the crow contract with the Uchiha clan, and then the three contracts of the sannin, the slug contract of Tsunade, the snake contract of Orochimaru, which Anko Mitarashi had also signed, and the toad contract of Jiraiya.

Uruho went to the kitchen to have the two dishes prepared and to warn his staff to treat Naruto Uzumaki properly whenever he came to the restaurant. He was to be treated like any other guest. None of the nonsense about him being a demon or they could look for new jobs. His warning seemed to work.

Naruto and Jiraiya got their appetizer fifteen minutes later and Jiraiya poured sake from his bottle in the two cups.

"Well, to your mastery in fuinjutsu, Naruto." Jiraiya said.

"Thanks, Jiraiya." Naruto replied and both drank the sake. Naruto was coughing after it.

Jiraiya laughed.

"You should be a bit careful in the beginning. Try sipping instead of drinking it in one go." He advised.

Naruto glared but followed the advice.

* * *

**Okay, that's it for this time.**


	15. Revealing the Uchiha Treachery

**Hi everybody. Here is chapter fifteen. My version what the Uchihas had planned for Konoha. Enjoy.**

* * *

**Revealing the Uchiha Treachery**

It was Saturday afternoon; Jiraiya was in the old Uchiha district checking out the seal the ROOT had found. He was frowning. This didn't look like any standard seal he knew of. He channelled some chakra into the seal and watched where the chakra was directed to. The result was nothing he liked. He would need assistance with this. He turned to the ANBU that was there as a fast messenger to the Hokage in case that was needed.

"Racoon, go to the Hokage and tell him I need support here. Tell him that I need Kakashi Hatake and Dark Phoenix for this." Jiraiya said.

The ANBU nodded and disappeared in a body flicker.

Thirty minutes after Jiraiya had called for assistance, Kakashi, Dark Phoenix and the Hokage stood next to him.

"What's the problem, Jiraiya?" The Hokage asked.

"We have a level four seal that is somewhat different from what I have seen so far and that directs chakra all over the Uchiha district. I only pushed a small amount into the seal, but this is really worrying. I wanted to have Kakashi and Dark Phoenix here to see what they think and to neutralize that seal eventually." Jiraiya said.

"I think it would be best if you showed us the seal then when it is fed a bit of chakra." Kakashi said.

Jiraiya nodded and repeated his earlier test.

Naruto looked shocked at the array he saw.

"God damn it, the Uchiha were really bastards. To install something like that in their district. It probably powers through the entire village." Naruto cried out in disgust.

"You know this, Dark Phoenix?" The Hokage asked surprised.

While Jiraiya had confirmed that Naruto was indeed a seal master, he didn't think that the boy would be able to identify seals that Jiraiya didn't know.

"Kakashi, please check the seal with your sharingan if there are any parts here in the district that we can't see with our normal eyes." Naruto addressed the jonin.

Kakashi nodded and pushed his headband up, only to have both eyes widen in shock.

"There are seals all over the whole district. Most originate from this seal, but some seem to be their own system. Wait a moment then I'll draw it up for you." Kakashi said. He soon took a piece of paper and began drawing what he had seen. "There are these two types of arrays that originate from this seal. Here in the district I mainly see the second type, only a few homes have the first type. It repeats itself over the entire district. This is the other array." He said pointing at the two arrays he had seen.

"The second one is a very complex secrecy seal that is used to hide an important location. Sensei, didn't you say you couldn't find many scrolls when you cleared out the Uchiha district after the massacre?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yes, while we found some scrolls and weapons it was nowhere the number we had expected to be in the Uchiha district. For a clan that had copied jutsus over generations, there simply wasn't enough material. And Sasuke also didn't have more. He had a few scrolls on sharingan techniques and fire jutsus. We looked long for the library we suspected here, but never could find it." The Hokage confirmed.

"Well, I guess you needed to look with a sharingan from a certain position. The second array probably hides the library that you couldn't find. I've seen that seal being used for places like that before. Dark Phoenix, while I have only a vague idea about the first array, you seem to know what it is." Jiraiya turned to Naruto.

"It is a parasitic seal. It consists of a main seal, which is the one you were called to check, and many other subparts. Those are the ones Kakashi found with his sharingan. I think from what I saw, the subparts don't only spread through the district, but over the whole village. When Jiraiya Sama powered the seal we saw the connected parts spread out through the gate of the district. This seal works like a chakra leech. The big seal here is the receiver; the smaller ones are either the senders or sub-receivers. From what Kakashi said, here are mostly sub-receivers. This looks like a very elaborate plan to take over the whole village. If this seal would have been activated at full power, the Uchiha could have sucked out the chakra of the people in the village, left them helpless and taken over. I guess I know now why the massacre happened." Naruto angrily said.

Both Jiraiya and the Hokage looked shocked. Kakashi looked resigned. To have just dodged a threat like this one. The Hokage now had the irrefutable confirmation that his decision to sign the order for the annihilation had been the right one. While they still didn't know why all the small children had been killed, they should have been exempt from the massacre, but even Itachi hadn't known what had happened with them. He had first taken out the leaders of the revolt and then every adult or teenager that had activated the eye and was in on the conspiracy. Which sadly had been most members of the clan.

"Can this seal still be used, Dark Phoenix?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes, it's completely workable. And with its size and the number of connected sub-seals, it will take some time to disable. Especially as it seems they created it so that only those with the sharingan would see the seals. Otherwise the Hyuga would have already found the seals with their byakugan. We need to find them all and disable them." Naruto said.

The Hokage nodded. That would be a time-consuming task.

"I think I should first map out the seals that are spread over the village with my sharingan. That way we can see if there is a way for others to take care of the seals once they know where they are." Kakashi said.

"Yes, that will be the first thing you need to do. How many shadow clones can you make and still use the sharingan?" The Hokage asked.

"I think two if I'm fully rested." Kakashi pondered.

"Ten." Naruto said and held out some seals. "These are some powerful storage seals. I tested them with my own shadow clones. In each seal is enough chakra stored to last for five hours under normal training conditions. Meaning learning some new jutsus. By my calculations, you should be able to have ten clones running around with an activated sharingan for three hours as the sharingan has a slightly higher drain than constant jutsu training for you. You place the first seal on yourself to have the chakra to produce the clones, the others you place on the clones themselves. As long as they aren't hit by anybody, the seals keep them going until the stored chakra runs out."

The others looked at Naruto astonished.

"Does that system work for everybody or do you have to tune it for each person?" Jiraiya asked impressed, analysing the seal.

"No, those are universal. It's just a normal chakra storage seal that I tweaked a bit to be able to power a person or shadow clone. My original idea for them was to use them to treat chakra exhaustion in a fight. You know - give somebody who is down a boost so they can get out of there while still defending themselves. And contrary to soldier pills those seals don't have any negative effects afterwards like receiving the whole amount of exhaustion in one major strike after they run out. If somebody stores his own chakra there are absolutely no effects, if you use somebody else's chakra it could be that the receiver feels a bit weird, perhaps a little bit tipsy. But I couldn't test that aspect yet." Naruto admitted.

"Incredible." The Hokage said. "That would be a powerful tool to have in a fight. How long does it need to be powered up?" He asked.

"Hm, for a normal ninja with average chakra reserves, I would guess it could be siphoned off during one night of sleep. One seal takes about the same amount of chakra as two A-rank jutsus. Of course you could also power up the seals with more chakra output in a shorter time. I just think the method over night is the easiest one and the one powering the seals wouldn't even notice the drain when he wakes up." Naruto said.

"I see. Well, I want you to make thousand of those seals for our armoury, Dark Phoenix. Those seals will be classified as level three ones. By the way how often can they be used?" The Hokage asked.

"Normally they should hold about ten to fifteen uses. They are a prototype. I'm working on having them hold for twenty uses. Longer is impossible as the chakra conductive properties of the ink can't take more. As these seals constantly give and take a high amount of chakra by their nature, the wear makes them less effective over time." Naruto answered.

"Still, that's remarkable. I see your fuinjutsu mastery was well-earned. Okay, Kakashi, get to work. We need to find out the whole dimension of this conspiracy. Dark Phoenix, Jiraiya, come with me to my office, we need to discuss something." The Hokage ordered.

"Yes, Hokage Sama." Kakashi and Naruto said while Jiraiya answered: "Yes, sensei."

Kakashi placed the first seal on himself and felt incredible about the amount of chakra he had available. He made the ten shadow clones easily and then placed the chakra storage seals from Naruto on them. He and the shadow clones took off with the intention of searching the village for the parasitic seals.

* * *

The Hokage sent his ANBU out of his office and Jiraiya set up his strongest privacy seals. Once that was done, Naruto took off his hood and the mask on his lower face. He had a suspicion what this conversation would be about.

"Okay, Naruto. I would like to know how you could identify the seal so easily." The Hokage asked.

"Okay. Well, it was twofold. The basis of the seal was described in some of the scrolls and books I found at my parents' house. As you know the Uzumaki clan was famous for their skills in fuinjutsu. The seal was originally used to contain prisoners in Uzushio. I guess that's the reason the Uchiha had that seal. After all they were in charge of the military police. The intention is to keep prisoners weak to control them easier. You have one seal that leeches the chakra off a prisoner and one receiver. The stored chakra was mostly used to power the electric system of the village. The Uchiha seal though has been modified. First they made it that only the master receiver seal could be seen by everybody. Second, the sub receiver seals don't power buildings, they power people.

"Meaning, if they had gone through with their coup, they could have just leeched off all the chakra from the ninjas and civilians in the village and added it to their own reserves temporarily. But with the probable use of jutsus, that would have been easy to balance out. The reason nobody ever thought off using the receiver seals that way is that it would overcharge the system and damage the chakra network of a person. They have made the sub receiver locations similar to a device that powers up batteries. With the Uchiha being the batteries. You can imagine what would have happened if the seals had been activated. The rest of the village would have been too weak to resist and the Uchiha could just have recharged their reserves in their district." Naruto explained.

"Okay, that indeed it very troubling. But you didn't explain your second source of information. I know a bit about the Uzumaki seals from Kushina, that's why I called you all in. I recognized a similarity in the style. But how could you identify the other parts?" Jiraiya asked.

Naruto sighed. That much for keeping his knowledge a secret. But this was a matter of village security. If anybody used the seals in against them it would be catastrophic.

"In the night after the Uchiha massacre, when all the ninjas were chasing Itachi, I sneaked into the Uchiha compound and collected as many scrolls as I could. I also took some weaponry which I could carry in a big sack. Two of the scrolls I found described the seal." Naruto said.

"And you didn't tell me that before why?" The Hokage asked sternly.

"Because I thought that it was my damn right to take reparation for what those bastards did to me until Itachi killed them all. When I heard the Uchiha were massacred, I felt like throwing a party instead of the overall mourning the village did. Out of hundred attacks on me ninety eight were done by those bastard Uchihas. In my opinion Itachi is a hero, with what we found out today I am only supported in that. If Itachi hadn't killed his clan, which can't have been easy for him, the village would have fallen into the hands of the Uchiha and I would either be dead, have found a way to run away or be a mindless weapon under their command." Naruto answered glaring at them, daring them to contradict him.

Both men were shocked by the blatant hatred that Naruto showed, talking about the Uchiha. But the Hokage could understand him. Thanks to them messing things up all the time, he hadn't been able to properly protect Naruto. The Uchiha had had too much influence. And all caught culprits hadn't really been punished as the responsibility for that fell under the power of the military police.

"I understand. Do you have any other important information I should be informed about?" The Hokage asked.

"Besides that I know all the weaknesses of the village's defences?" Naruto asked, shocking the two older men again.

"But how?" Jiraiya asked.

"Being a prankster and playing pranks on the village had two purposes for me. On the one hand it helped venting aggression and preventing me from going on a killing spree and on the other hand, I trained my abilities in stealth, trap making, infiltration, assassination and information gathering. I know my only real chance to rise in the ranks is being better than anybody else. While the other genin of my year are starting to see me as more than an idiot prankster now, the majority of the village is so set in its believes that it would take several large scale actions from me to ever change their minds about me. So I decided I would train myself to be able to become a phantom. I know that skilled infiltration and assassination experts are rare. So I thought that could be the niche I could fit in. Especially as it seems to be something my ancestors were famous for." Naruto said.

"Yes, the Namikaze were indeed once known as the most feared assassins in the ninja world. Though from what I saw about your skills so far, I wouldn't have assumed that would be the area you'd want to work in." The Hokage asked.

"I tried to get my skills up in nearly all areas of shinobi abilities. But I definitely have the mind of an infiltration and assassination specialist. I have been forced to act from the shadows for years to not be killed in this damned village. So over the years my personality started to think that way. Do you know how often I entertained thoughts of how easy it would be to just kill some of the more annoying civilian councillors in their sleep and put the blame on ROOT?" Naruto asked.

"You know about ROOT?" The Hokage asked shocked.

"Sure do, I know pretty much everything about them. I know their location, their training methods, how much of an idiot Danzo is, some of their members and in what kind of businesses Danzo is involved. But as they are not really a problem as long as you can keep Danzo under control, I think they could be put to good use for the village. And I think you are already doing it if the increased presence of them in the village over the last few weeks is any indication." Naruto said.

"That'll be a slap in the face for Danzo that somebody noticed his ninja spying around." Jiraiya chuckled.

"What do you mean about Danzo being an idiot?" The Hokage asked.

"The guy is caught up in the past. While he is still a powerful shinobi, him playing the cripple is more deception than anything else, he is as old as you are and his reserves are decreasing. It's utterly unrealistic to think he could ever be a good Hokage. The guy has so much information on the situation all around the elemental nations that he could have made Konoha the undisputed champion long ago. He claims he wants Konoha to be the strongest village, but he doesn't give it his full abilities. I think I should talk with him sometime about it." Naruto mused.

"Do you really think you could change his behaviour?" Jiraiya asked doubtfully.

"I am the great-grandson of the man he admired more than anybody else. And I am quite similar to him as well. My great-grandfather was the one who combined the cunning and sneakiness of a high-class assassin and the power of a combat ninja. He was the one to found ROOT and put Danzo in charge. And you don't really believe that Danzo doesn't know who I am?" Naruto asked.

Both Jiraiya and the Hokage had to admit that it was nearly impossible that Danzo didn't know about Naruto's heritage. For that he looked too much like Minato and Danzo knew about Minato's heritage.

"Still, if you approach him, be careful, Naruto. Danzo is not someone you want to underestimate." The Hokage warned.

"I know, but the same is true for me." Naruto grinned. "I can be one or three thousand. I can be everything I want to be. A plant, a mouse, a giant. It doesn't matter to me. He'll see what kind of threat I pose if he goes too far. And as I don't have any real attachment in the village that he could go after, well, he can't blackmail me."

Both the Hokage and Jiraiya were worried about that last statement. But it was true nonetheless. The only one Naruto had any kind of attachment to was the Hokage himself and perhaps a little bit to Kakashi. But both were strong enough to look after themselves. And to have Naruto's potential pointed out like that could be more than a little bit unsettling. It only drove home how much they needed to keep the blond in the village.

* * *

The next morning a Naruto clone in his Dark Phoenix disguise brought the first quarter of the chakra storage seals the Hokage had ordered. These seals were tricky to make and it took a lot of energy from Naruto, which meant he couldn't mass produce them like easier ones. Meaning he didn't have the reserves to use thousand shadow clones like normally. With these seals he could have two hundred and fifty clones do one seal each per night. While he didn't power up the seals except the very basic level that was needed to store the chakra in the seal, it was still tiring him out. Therefore once a clone had drawn and powered up a seal, it dispelled from being out of chakra.

He handed the stack of seals over to the Hokage who wrote down the amount of money that would be transferred to Naruto's account. Thankfully the bank was under the control of the Hokage and the accounts were only kept with numbers to anybody not having the clearance. Meaning only the director of the bank, the Hokage and the respective account holder would be able to connect a number to a name. Therefore nobody would wonder how a genin was earning that much money regularly. Because selling so many new seals to the village earned Naruto a good amount of cash.

He had easily paid for his new cloak which he was working on to prepare for being used for flying. Soon after the formalities had been taken care of, the clone dispelled, informing Naruto of the successful transaction.

* * *

During the week team seven was kept in the village mostly for training and some D-rank missions, which was due to Kakashi having to find all the seals that the Uchiha clan had hidden in the village. All members of team seven noticed that Naruto was colder towards his team-mates than even before, but he still kept everything professional. But Sakura obviously didn't learn how to read the mood of her team-mate.

"Naruto, why are you behaving like that?" She accused him.

"Like what?" He asked not interrupting his workout exercise of doing pull-ups on a branch.

"Like you are better than us and not even worth talking to you." She answered glaring at him.

"That might be because that's exactly how I see it. I could do much worse than that, but that would disrupt the functionality of this team." Naruto said still not stopping.

"WHAT? How dare you say that? Sasuke was the Rookie of the Year, you were the dead last; you could never measure up to him!" She yelled.

"Didn't the last one and a half months show you that the academy rating was rubbish? If I had wanted to, I could have been Rookie of the Year, but what would that get me? Acknowledgement and respect? The village is so screwed up in their minds that they would deny anything I did even if there was no doubt about it. They have placed Sasuke on a pedestal, not even caring that he isn't anything special in his clan. And what good did it do him? Inflating his ego so much that he lost sense of reality. It hinderd his growth instead of furthering it. And you? Don't even let me start about your failures. You were physically one of the weakest members in our class; the only thing you really learned at the academy was theory, nothing remarkably useful in the field. Your taijutsu, while the forms are consistent, is too weak because you lack the power in any kick or punch and you tire way too early.

"You didn't train anymore than what the instructors had us do during the practical lessons at the academy. The other time you spent stalking emo over there and fantasising about how to rape him. So what if we meet a missing nin on a mission that separates our team? Talk him down with the knowledge about the elemental nations and show him how to do a nice flower bouquet? Those are supplementary skills for a ninja. We earn our money as thieves, killers and soldiers. There is nothing romantic in our profession. Once we are out of the learning phase under our jonin senseis, we are facing other ninjas that won't hesitate to kill us if their mission commands it. You either are good enough to survive or you die. Nothing more." Naruto said, never stopping doing his exercise.

Kakashi hated how the mood in his team was, but he couldn't really do anything about it before he managed to break Sakura out of her fangirl mentality and got Sasuke knocked down from his pedestal of believing he was better than everybody else. At least the raven haired boy had finally realized that Naruto was stronger than him. It was obvious in every single team training session. And as Naruto managed to keep his calm with Sakura and Sasuke and didn't let himself be tempted to just physically knock them down a bit, he didn't see a reason to interfere. He was doing his own exercises. He was busy improving his raikiri. If he was to become Hokage, he needed to have some additional firepower in his arsenal.

So far he had increased the range of the attack. Seeing Naruto improve by leaps and bounds had also motivated him to get better. He had to admit he had relied too much on Obito's present. The sharingan had a lure to make people lazy. It was easy to learn new jutsus. So there wasn't as much work involved as it normally would have been. But he hadn't been called a prodigy for nothing. He had made genin with just five years of age and chunin with six. That was even faster than Itachi Uchiha. With thirteen he had become jonin. He was the son of the famous White Fang. He was the Copy Ninja, the man who had copied over a thousand jutsus. It was time he backed up his reputation again.

Whenever he didn't have to train his team or observe missions, he was working on mastering all the jutsus he had copied and he was writing them down for the Hokage library through a shadow clone. With the chakra seals Naruto had created, he could keep a clone running for eight hours without using the sharingan. That was more than enough time to write down his knowledge. Once the seals in the village would be found, he would use the shadow clones to train like Naruto did. While he could only do it on a smaller scale, the seals enabled him to get a good effect. After all, he only needed to master jutsus he already knew.

He saw Sakura being gob smacked over the lecture Naruto had given her and furious that neither her sensei nor Sasuke were defending her.

"Sakura, get back to your own exercises." Kakashi reminded her.

Sakura looked ready to explode, but didn't dare ignore a direct order of her sensei. She started with running across the training filed as fast as she could.

* * *

**Okay, cut for now. I hope you liked my version of the Uchiha conspiracy. Till next time.**


	16. Deal With the Devil

**Hi, here is the next chapter, happy reading.**

* * *

**Deal with the Devil**

Team seven stood in the Hokage's office ready for a new mission. Kakashi had finished mapping the locations of the seals and while he was away with his team, Jiraiya and the ANBU would try to disable the seals in the most problematic locations like the Hokage Tower, the Ninja Academy, the ANBU Headquarters and the guard area of the shinobi prison.

"Team seven ready for a C-rank mission." Kakashi said, shocking Iruka who was doing duty in the mission office today.

"A C-rank already? Aren't they a bit inexperienced for that?" Iruka asked.

"That's not our first one, Iruka. We already did one and only because I had another important mission that kept me inside the village we didn't do another yet." Kakashi said.

Iruka was surprised. He wouldn't have thought that team seven would already be doing C-ranks. Normally a team was kept doing D-ranks for at least four to six months before a sensei decided they were ready for higher ranking missions. But if the rumours he had heard were true, Naruto was a lot better than he had shown at the academy and Kakashi was putting his team through harsh training.

"Okay, Kakashi. I think I have something fitting for you. We have a simple escort and protection mission to Wave Country. The client is a bridge builder called Tazuna who wants you to escort him back and protect him from bandits and the like until he finishes his bridge." The Hokage said.

"Mission accepted, Hokage Sama." Kakashi said.

"Very well. Send Tazuna in." The Hokage said loudly.

An old man with a straw hat, holding a bottle which obviously held alcohol was standing in the door.

"Those kids are the protection I get? I paid for real ninjas to protect me, not those squirts." He protested.

Naruto was in front of him before Tazuna even noticed he had left his position.

"Funny you say that. I know for sure that this squirt could cut your jugular vein before you even noticed me." He said grinning evilly, making Tazuna gulp in fear.

"Mah, mah, Naruto. No scaring the client." Kakashi said.

"You're no fun, Kakashi sensei." Naruto mock pouted and instantly returned to his former position again without Tazuna being able to see anything.

"You don't have to fear anything, Tazuna. I'm a jonin and those three are some of the best upcoming ninjas we have in the village. We are more than enough to deal with a few bandits." Kakashi assured Tazuna.

Naruto saw a slight tensing in Tazuna when Kakashi mentioned the bandits. Was there more going on? He probably needed to make a small visit to the ROOT base if he had the time before leaving.

"When are we leaving?" He asked therefore.

"Tomorrow morning at seven at the main gate." Kakashi answered.

Naruto nodded and left the room in a body flicker. Tazuna looked at the spot where the blond had been just a moment before. He really should have expected something like that from a ninja. After all, people told the most incredible things about them.

* * *

Naruto reappeared in the woods close to the ROOT base entrance. He made five shadow clones which he transformed into forest animals and transformed into a mouse himself. Then he sent one clone that hadn't transformed openly into the base. He stayed in the shadows, following his clone undetected. It was time to have a little conversation with Danzo.

It took the untransformed clone ten minutes to reach the area where the ROOT base split into several areas. Once he was in the middle of the platform he was stopped by four ROOT ninjas in blank white masks that held him in position with kunai to four vital areas.

"I want to talk to Danzo. Would any of you mind calling him?" The clone said calmly, not caring that he was threatened.

One of the four that held him gave a sign, which Naruto and his clone thought was the order to another ninja in the shadows. Five minutes later Danzo came out.

"I am interested why you would come down here, Uzumaki. And more so I would like to learn how you knew about this place." Danzo asked.

"I have known about this place for four years now. And I know what this place is, the headquarters of your little ANBU subdivision ROOT that 'should' have been disbanded. But I also know that the old man just turned a blind eye because you were useful for the village. By the way, I'm only a shadow clone, so I'd advise you to keep your ninjas on a leash before they pop me and I can't give you the message I was sent here to give you." The clone said still keeping an emotionless face.

Danzo gave the four a sign, which made them step back a little bit, still keeping the clone under control.

"Nice. Well, I guess you want to know the reason for my visit. The reason is twofold. My original wants to know if you have anything about the political situation of Wave Country because our new client is behaving a bit suspiciously. The second one is offering a mutually beneficial alliance. I know that you tried to get me into your unit since the day Kyubi was sealed in me. While I have no interest in becoming a mindless weapon, I know as well that with the public opinion of me, there will be hard times before I can live a halfway peaceful life in the village. And I also know that Itachi Uchiha killed the Uchiha clan on your orders." Naruto revealed.

Danzo's eye narrowed. This boy knew way too much in his opinion. But an alliance with him could be useful. The boy was jonin level and that at twelve. He only needed experience, which would be no problem with how Kakashi trained his team. The boy would reach the rank he deserved within a year.

"Intriguing indeed. You don't sound like you mind the Uchiha clan being dead." Danzo stated.

"I don't mind the least. They were power hungry bastards that would have risked a civil war in Konoha just to get the power. And my personal history with them is also nothing I care to remember. I won't shed a single tear about them. They tried to usurp the old man's power, he found out before they could strike, they paid the price. I know you have dealt with threats to Konoha for decades from the shadows. I also know you have ambitions to get the Hokage hat. Well, that I have to say is a delusion of yours. The daimyo would never appoint you as long as he has other suitable choices. And that sharingan you have from Shisui Uchiha won't really help you as well. Have any Hyuga there and you are busted." Naruto said.

Danzo looked like he wanted to attack, but Naruto just raised his hand.

"Hit a nerve? Don't worry, I didn't tell the old man about that little secret. While I didn't hate Shisui as much as other Uchihas, I didn't like him either. If you are into desecration of corpses is your problem, not mine. No, my interest is gaining power in this village. It will become much easier after I let loose in the chunin exams. At the moment, there are only rumours that I held back at the academy. After the exams everybody will know exactly how much. Konoha has been sleeping in the last twelve years. First we needed to rebuild after the Kyubi attack, then we needed to restructure after the Uchiha massacre, which cost us a fifth of our military. I know that the old man is planning to have Kakashi sensei take over the hat to make sure I stay in the village. What he doesn't know is that it was my intention to get Kakashi Hatake into the position." Naruto said making Danzo look at him interested again.

"What reason would I have had to reveal my escape plans? If I had really intended to run, I could have done it easier. I am a master of the shadow clone jutsu and of seals. Making a clone that kept my place for a week then disappear, which would probably give me a few more days until anybody noticed I was missing would have been easy. And nobody could have declared me a missing nin, because I wasn't a ninja yet. And within one and a half weeks I'd have left Fire Country without problem. Meaning there would have been nothing the Hokage could have done to get me back. But what advantage would running away have given me after the Uchiha were killed? None. But it offered me an opportunity - the massacre left a vacuum of power that still isn't filled.

"In the past we had many powerful ninjas in the village and with Uzushio, our sister village and my mother's home village we had a very powerful ally. But we let Uzushio be destroyed by Iwa and Kumo because we didn't expect the attack. While the ninjas of Uzushio held their own for three days, the Konoha support only reached them on the fourth day. While Iwa and Kumo lost more ninjas than Uzushio did, they could afford it with their greater numbers. We let the White Fang commit suicide over a discrepancy in opinion. He saw his comrades more important than the mission, the other ninjas in the village saw it differently. But letting one of our legends die because of that? We are founded on the will of fire. If we didn't have the teamwork and high regard for the lives of our ninjas, we wouldn't have become as great as we are.

"Then the mistake with the sannin. Only Jiraiya is currently loyal to Konoha. Orochimaru is a traitor and Tsunade caught in her grief. Means two of our most powerful ninjas are unavailable for us." The clone listed with arms crossed over his chest.

Danzo could only agree. Much power had been lost to Konoha. That was one thing he held against the Sandaime. He had become too soft to lead.

"Next one is Itachi Uchiha. The fake missing nin who is one of the greatest heroes of the village. To kill your own clan, your own family to protect the village needs real guts. And to take all the blame to keep the village safe and be the eyes outside also is incredibly courageous. But it takes another very powerful ninja from the village. I don't need to mention the death of my parents, the ninjas that died against Kyubi and the decreasing strength of both you and the Sandaime. We need more strong ninjas that can bear the burden of our village in the future. Within my generation there are some real talents. Shikamaru Nara is a genius and only needs to realize that his laziness can be the reason for friends to be in lethal danger. Ino Yamanaka is extremely talented in her clan's arts, but doesn't invest the necessary training to become really good over her fawning over Sasuke. Who is the next great example.

"The village fucked him up pretty good. He should never have been allowed to live on his own. A seven year old boy spoiled by the villagers just because he had the potential to activate the sharingan without the necessary grounding by a family. Caught in the bad memories without new ones balancing them out. He should have been given help to overcome his grief and psychological help to get over the genjutsu Itachi put him under. He has talent, but only now under Kakashi sensei it's showing its true dimension. Sasuke is no Itachi and will never be. But he can be great. If he only gets that damn superiority complex out of his mind. Shino Aburame is well-versed in his jutsu and if he follows my suggestions, he can become one of the most feared hunter nins ever. Same for Kiba Inuzuka. Get him over his brashness and put a bit of strategic thinking into him and he can become a great ninja. Hinata Hyuga has much potential; it just needs to be pulled out of her with supportive training, not the stupid beat-down method her clan used. To simply overlook her being a different element than the other members of her clan is so stupid.

"Next the team under Gai. Neji is a genius who nobody bothered to show up his errors. Not that hard to believe with him being a genius and not being allowed to truly shine by the main branch of the Hyuga. If he gets over his fate obsession crap, he could become jonin before all the others in his year and my year except for me. Then Lee. With his kind of handicap Gai made a fantastic ninja out of him. Tenten only needs to branch out more in her specialty. We have the potential but it needs to be properly cultivated. They all need about three years to develop to their full potential. But we also need a Hokage that can lead this potential in the right direction. The Sandaime is too worn out to be that leader. He wanted to hand over the hat already and lost his successor when Dad died sealing Kyubi in me. You are crippled from the war and wouldn't stand a chance against somebody like Itachi at full power. So while you are still powerful, you are not Hokage material. What you need is a symbol outside of your ROOT that can be your representative. And that is the deal I have to offer. I will be your representative. You know my heritage. I am the prince of this village. And in a few months that will be announced.

"I think very much the same way my great-grandfather did. We need to get the village back up to power. And we need symbols out there that can show the other villages that we didn't lose any of our strength since the third war. While most of my classmates didn't make the cut, that problem is being taken care of since I woke up the Sandaime from his reluctance to act. He wants to hand over the hat to Kakashi sensei with the most pressing problems solved or on the way there. I can be the leader of the new generation once they get old enough to take over the village. I don't want to become Hokage soon. It will be early enough if I can get the hat in my thirties or early forties. I want to get a name out there. I want to make them fear the name Naruto Namikaze. And honestly, why would I want to be chained to an office before it's necessary?" Naruto asked.

Danzo had to admit he was impressed with this boy. What he had done so far was really cunning. With him indicating he would have run if he could, he had forced the Sandaime to take action. To lose a ninja of Naruto's potential would be a catastrophe for Konoha. More so as Naruto held the Kyubi. And now he even had too much information on ROOT to have him forced to act somehow.

"So what do you want for being my representative?" Danzo asked.

"Access to your training facilities and information. Mostly information though at the moment. Your true power is not your skill or the number of your ninjas. They might look impressive, but mostly they are a high chunin level or low jonin level. You have some outstanding ones in your forces, like Fuu and Torune, but they are still no match to someone like Kakashi sensei. Your true power is based on information. You know as well as I do, if the Hokage had wanted to stop you, he could have destroyed all this here and executed you for treason. But he knows that there are threats you just need to take care of under the hand. And your information network is too valuable to just throw it away." Naruto said.

"I see, very interesting. I agree to your conditions, Namikaze. It will be interesting to see if you indeed have the strength to reach your goals and bring Konoha back to the top. I knew the Nidaime very well and if you are only half the man he was, you indeed have a glorious future before you. Well, let's see your request for information on Wave Country. The country, while still officially ruled by their Daimyo, is under the control of the businessman Gato. He took over all their shipping industry and effectively cut them off of the mainland. Anybody opposing him is killed. He managed to suppress the people by publicly executing the leader of their resistance in the most brutal and bloody way. Gato is also one of the greediest and richest people in the elemental nations. He set up his base east of a fisher village close to the coast to Fire Country. His personal guards are thugs he hired. From what I have on them, they are small fry for any ninja. The only dangerous thing about them is their numbers. He has around five hundred in his main base and another five hundred on call in a camp on the other side of the island." Danzo said.

Naruto nodded thinking about the information.

"So to really get Wave Country back to its feet we need to take out Gato, kill his thugs and let Tazuna finish his bridge. Which means the mission is no C-rank, but probably an A-rank. I guess he occasionally also hires missing nins to take care of opponents. If he betrays them nobody would complain. Okay, well that will be an interesting test of my abilities. Konoha wouldn't mind any additional funds as well. I should be able to take them all out in the first week depending on which missing ninja Gato hired. But if he is as greedy as you say, he could have hired a really strong one that he intends to take out once he is weakened from a fight against us. Thanks for the information." The clone said and dispelled.

The original Naruto meanwhile had read up on missing nins in the area in the ROOT archive and come up with a number of potential opponents he would probably face. While his clone kept Danzo busy, he had sneaked out again, nobody being any the wiser he had been there in person and taken a few things. One of Danzo's special bingo books for example.

* * *

**Okay, a filler until the Wave Arc starts. Hope you liked it. Till next time.**


	17. Mission to Wave Country

**I'm back with the next chapter, this is the start of the Wave mission, one of the turning points in canon Naruto. I have added my own spin, hope you like it. Happy reading.**

* * *

**Mission to Wave Country**

Team seven met at the main gate at seven in the morning. Kakashi had informed Sakura what she needed for the mission as he didn't want to waste time with her having to stock up on things today. Sasuke he knew was properly prepared for a two week long mission like this one. They would need about two days to reach Wave Country at civilian speed. Naruto was always over prepared. No need to worry there.

A few minutes past seven the team set out for the mission. Naruto had read the bingo book from ROOT yesterday and was prepared for all the ninjas that could await him. He had sealed more weapons for this mission than the last C-rank to be prepared to take out hundreds of thugs. Out of the village Naruto made ten shadow clones that transformed in small birds and took off, scouting ahead. For some hours nothing really interesting happened. Sakura tried to make small talk with Tazuna, trying to find out more about Wave Country. Naruto had pondered the use of telling Kakashi his information, but had decided to not to. He wanted to do this mission and if he informed his sensei about the higher rank the team wouldn't get it. And between Kakashi and him there was no missing nin that Gato could have hired that they couldn't take out. After all, Gato was greedy as hell. More than a normal jonin he wouldn't hire if at all.

Three hours into their travel, one of his shadow clones dispersed. Naruto signalled Kakashi with handsigns about the potential threat in from of two ninjas hidden in a puddle. Kakashi signalled back to continue without alarming anybody. Naruto confirmed the order. After twenty minutes they reached the puddle Naruto's clones had informed him about. The team passed the puddle without Sasuke or Sakura reacting to it. Really, they obviously needed to train more on situational awareness. It had been warm for the last week. A puddle in the middle of the road was simply impossible with those conditions.

Soon after they had passed the puddle the two ninjas jumped out and attacked Kakashi with a bladed chain, tearing him to shreds. Or at least that was what Sasuke and Sakura saw. Naruto, being immune to genjutsu of that level, saw a replacement with a log. Sakura's screams were tuned out when he quickly analysed the reason for Kakashi's actions. Which made him conclude Kakashi wanted to know the ninja's target. And perhaps test his team under fighting conditions.

"Sasuke left, Sakura, guard Tazuna, I take right." Naruto commanded, which his team-mates immediately followed.

Sasuke rushed at the left opponent, Naruto at the right one and Sakura took position in front of Tazuna with a kunai in her hand. Sasuke pinned the chain of the two ninjas, who wore breathing masks and had Kiri headbands, to a tree with a shuriken, which he enforced with a kunai. Naruto meanwhile had reached his opponent and was going for a quick kill. He pushed wind chakra through his kunai and once he was inside the ninja's guard, he slashed at the throat. Having enhanced the kunai with wind chakra, taking the ninja by surprise with his speed Naruto cleanly cut off the head.

Sasuke meanwhile had involved his opponent in a taijutsu fight. While the ninja tried to get past him all the time, Sasuke was obviously winning. Finally he kicked his opponent in the kidneys, which made him fall down in pain. Just when the other ninja tried to stand up, Kakashi appeared and took care of the ninja, knocking him out. Sakura looked immensely relieved that Kakashi was still alive.

Naruto had to collect himself for a moment. While he had killed animals before without problem, killing a human was still different. He knew it was kill or be killed in this world, but the first kill was still difficult. Hopefully he would be able to take out the thugs. Sakura looked at the corpse at Naruto's feet in horror, Sasuke looked indifferent. He had seen others being killed before after all.

"Good job, everybody. That was a perfectly executed reaction to an ambush. Naruto, are you okay?" Kakashi asked concerned.

"I'm okay, Kakashi sensei; just give me a minute to get it straight in my head." Naruto requested, trying to calm his feelings down.

Talking about killing was definitely easier than doing the deed. But if he wanted to become a good ninja, he would need to do it again. And in Wave there waited a bunch of thugs that he would have to kill to free the country. Kakashi nodded towards Naruto, resolving to talk to him later about his obviously first kill. Then he turned to Tazuna.

"You didn't tell us that ninjas were after you; we were only informed about bandits and the like." He confronted Tazuna.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Tazuna tried to evade.

"Oh, that's easy. I knew about this ambush twenty minutes before it happened from Naruto. His scouting clones had informed him about two ninjas hiding in a puddle on our way. I replaced myself with a log when they attacked and let my team handle things for two reasons. First, I wanted to see how my team dealt with a situation like this and second, I wanted to know their target. Were they after one of us or after you? Those ninja tried to get to you from the start. So I want a very good explanation for this or I'll take my team back to Konoha. With you lying about the rank of the mission, you broke the contract you made with Konoha." Kakashi informed Tazuna.

"Okay, there is a super dangerous man after my life. You've probably heard about him. His name is Gato." Tazuna confessed.

"President of Gato Shipping. Currently ranked fifth richest man in the elemental nations." Naruto stated. "Suspected to be involved in criminal activities, but it could never be proven."

"Yes, that's him. He came to Wave Country a bit more than a year ago. First we didn't think anything about it, but he soon had bought up all the shipping industry of our nation. You see Wave Country is an island so we are dependent on the shipping to get goods. But that wasn't the worst part. He used his monopoly to drain the country dry. The people live in poverty. Many lost their houses to Gato. Who protests is killed. He takes what he wants with his hired thugs making sure nobody dares to oppose him. His shipping business covers his criminal activities. He deals with drugs, alcoholics, rare goods even slaves. Everything that brings him money. The only thing he fears is the bridge I'm building. If I finish my bridge, Wave Country can break his monopoly and get back to strength." Tazuna said.

"But why didn't you just tell the truth?" Kakashi asked.

"That's easy to conclude. Wave Country was sucked dry. They didn't have more money than for a C-rank mission if they poured all their money in the bridge to get their freedom. I guess in the recent past Gato had tried to take Tazuna out so that he sneaked out of the Country with all the money the people could get together to hire a few ninjas. He hoped he would get ninjas strong enough to protect him while he finished the bridge. And if Gato had just used his thugs he would even have been lucky that that was true. But those two are the demon brothers, missing ninja from Kiri. B-ranked in the bingo book. Bounty for one 1.000.000 ryo, bounty for both 3.000.000 ryo." Naruto cited from the bingo book he had read.

Tazuna nodded. "He's right. In the past Gato only used thugs. There are rumours that he hates ninjas because they are so expensive. I wasn't sure if he would hire ninja to take me out. And we really are super poor. Even our Daimyo has no money. All the money I gave Konoha is from the people. And it is all we could afford. We put everything else into the bridge; it's our only hope." Tazuna said.

"You still shouldn't have lied. If you had told the Hokage the problem he would have come up with a solution." Kakashi said. "Now we still have the problem that this mission is too much for this team."

"I am for continuing, Kakashi sensei. This is not just a mission where the client wanted to save money. This is about a whole country going down the drain because one greedy bastard wants to fill his pockets even more than he already has. And we can't afford that people think Konoha would let a country fall to such a man. We are strong enough to continue." Naruto said.

"Hmph, Naruto is right. We are strong enough, I vote we continue." Sasuke said, already thinking about what kind of fighting experience he would get.

Sakura looked unsure, but she didn't want to disappoint Sasuke. And the people of Wave obviously needed help.

"I agree." She said.

Kakashi looked at his team. He knew this was the best genin team that could have got the mission. Naruto was practically a jonin in all but title. Sasuke probably low chunin level and Sakura after two months of rigorous training was a normal genin. But she could stay in the back and be support if a fight started. He wouldn't need to protect all of them like they were real genin.

"You are aware that if we continue, our next opponent won't be chunin level, but more likely a jonin like me?" He asked.

All three nodded. Naruto calm and determined, Sasuke determined and Sakura a bit worried, but still determined to continue.

"Alright, we will continue. But once Wave Country gets back to its feet you'll have to pay the difference to the mission rank this will develop into." Kakashi told Tazuna.

"Of course, thank you so much." He said gratefully.

Naruto sealed the head of Meizu, whom he had decapitated in a scroll to collect the bounty later on. Kakashi decided that just leaving Gozu here, bound until the ANBU could collect him, was too risky.

"Naruto, do you have prisoner scrolls in your repertoire?" He asked.

"I would need to make it, but I can do the seals. I guess you don't want to risk him escaping when he can be a good source of information?" Naruto asked.

"Indeed." Kakashi said. Naruto nodded, took a blank scroll out of his backpack, took his sealing equipment and began drawing.

Sasuke and Sakura for the first time saw how good their team-mate was with fuinjutsu. They had never really seen him create a seal from scratch. To say they couldn't avoid being impressed was an understatement.

"Damn it, boy, you could think you were one of the Uzumaki of old." Tazuna said.

"I am an Uzumaki, Tazuna." Naruto answered, finishing the seal by pushing chakra into it.

"A real Uzumaki? But your hair is blond, not red." Tazuna exclaimed.

"I don't know my parents, but my mother was an Uzumaki. That much the Hokage could tell me." Naruto said.

"What is so special about the Uzumaki?" Sakura asked, clueless.

Kakashi looked at her strangely.

"Don't tell me they cut that important part of history out of the teaching plans of the academy?" Kakashi said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"Okay, impromptu history lesson. Before the third great ninja world war Konoha had a sister village called Uzushio. It was located in the former land of whirlpools, an island nation close to Wave Country. The leaders of the village were the Uzumakis. That clan was known all over the elemental nations for three things. Their longevity, their skills in kenjutsu and their incredible skill in fuinjutsu. The Senju clan that founded Konoha and the Uzumaki clan that founded Uzushio were distant cousins. Konoha won the second shinobi war because we had the Uzumakis on our side. But then, shortly before the third war started, Iwa and Kumo decided that to have a chance against Konoha in the third war, they needed to eliminate our strongest ally, Uzushio. They kept their attack plans completely secret. But they didn't expect the opposition they would have to face in Uzushio.

"All the ninjas there were exceptionally strong. The village was much smaller than Konoha, but their ninjas were all at jonin level if they had a few years of experience. They managed to send the genin level ninjas away to evacuate the civilians. Sadly not all of those convoys managed to escape, but many did. The united forces of Iwa and Kumo attacked relentlessly for three days. Konoha ninjas were on their way to assist Uzushio, led by Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash and Kushina Uzumaki, the Blood-Red Habanero or outside of Konoha the Red Devil. But they were too late. They reached Uzushio on the fourth day when the last Uzumakis, who had held out to give the civilians a chance to get as far away as they could and hoped that Konoha would reach them to help in time, had fallen to the enemy. But Iwa and Kumo didn't get a great win from this battle. They lost ten times the ninja Uzushio had lost.

"It was that battle where my sensei earned his name of Yellow Flash and Kushina got her name of Red Devil. They tore the remaining ninjas down. It was nothing but a bloody massacre. The weakened ninjas from Iwa and Kumo, while still having the numeric advantage were no match for those two and the rest of the Konoha forces. They were killed to the last member. In remembrance of our failure to reach Uzushio in time to help them, like they did for us in the past, Konoha wears the spiral of the Uzumaki clan on the back of our chunin and jonin vests. While the crest of the Uzumaki clan is white like on Naruto's shoulder, the symbol on our vests is red to always remember that battle." Kakashi said.

'So he too is from a nearly extinct clan.' Sasuke realized.

Sakura was solemn. She hadn't known about that. And it seemed to have been a really important historic event. Why wouldn't the students at the academy learn about it? Naruto had taken in the story calmly. He had already known about it. It was a big part in both of his parents' journals. But hearing it from Kakashi sensei was still something different.

* * *

The journey continued without incidents until they reached the coast where Tazuna had organized for a boat to transport them over to Wave Country. The man who stirred the boat was extremely nervous, despite them having cover from the early morning fog. When they passed the bridge, Naruto couldn't help but let out a soft whistle.

"Damn it, Tazuna. That really is one impressive bridge." He said.

"Thanks. I told you I'm a super bridge builder." Tazuna answered.

Once they reached land, the fisher wished Tazuna luck to get home safely while Tazuna thanked him for his help. Naruto sent out a new batch of clones transformed into birds to scout the island. He needed to have a good reason to know certain things after all. Identifying missing nins from a bingo book was no problem. Kakashi knew he was always over prepared. But knowing about the political and geographical highlights of Wave Country if he didn't send out scouts wouldn't be good. And honestly, taking out a camp of five hundred thugs on his own while possible, would be much easier if his sensei helped.

"How far is your home from here, Tazuna?" Kakashi asked.

"About one and a half hours." Tazuna answered.

"Be on guard. It's probable that we will encounter opposition before we reach Tazuna's home." Kakashi warned.

His students nodded. They walked surrounding Tazuna. Naruto at point, Sasuke left, Sakura right and Kakashi behind Tazuna. Half an hour into their walk, Naruto threw a kunai into a bush, then looking into a different direction, then somewhere else.

"We have company, Kakashi sensei." Naruto stated.

"Location?" Kakashi asked.

"Changing at a fast pace." Naruto said.

Hidden in the trees Zabuza Momochi was really impressed. He wouldn't have thought that a team like this was protecting the bridge builder. He had found the remains of Meizu, but not of Gozu. And from Meizu he could only tell that his head had been cut off cleanly. No other injuries. Probably Kakashi's work. But the blond was definitely a sensor. That could be a problem. Otherwise he didn't look that special. The team seemed to consist of genins. He decided to introduce himself properly and hauled his giant sword through the air at the group.

"DOWN!" Kakashi shouted and pulled Tazuna to the ground.

Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto were drilled to immediately react to their sensei's orders and went down. Naruto in the position of a push-up so he jumped up again after the sword had sailed over his head, ready to defend.

"My, my. I didn't expect somebody like you here; no wonder the demon brothers couldn't fulfil the mission." Zabuza said, standing on his sword, which was stuck into a tree.

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Mist." Kakashi said.

"Ah, you've heard of me. Well, I have to ask you to hand over the old man to me. I'm not after you and your brats. If you do, I'll just let all of you run home." Zabuza said.

"Sorry, can't do that. It's our mission to protect Tazuna." Kakashi said.

"A pity." Zabuza said.

Sasuke looked like he wanted to attack this new opponent, but Kakashi held him back.

"No, this one is not like the two before. Against him I need to go all out. Release your seals and protect Tazuna. Naruto, you're in command." Kakashi said and pushed up his headband, revealing the sharingan.

"Oh, the sharingan this early on, I'm honoured. I've heard about you too. When I was still in the ANBU of Kiri you were in our bingo books. You're known as the Copy Ninja. The man who has copied a thousand jutsus." Zabuza said.

Zabuza let loose a high amount of killing intent. He was really surprised when none of the genin reacted to it, but countered it. Especially the blond didn't seem bothered at all. He had taken the other two and positioned them around the old man.

"You'll have to do better than that, Zabuza. Those are my students and I've put them through harsh training. You didn't expect me to let them go on C-rank missions without being used to killing intent?" Kakashi mocked.

"Interesting. You seem to have some talented ones there. But can they really succeed in this harsh world? Were they scared when you killed Meizu?" Zabuza asked.

"Huh? What is he talking about? You killed that ninja, Naruto." Sakura asked.

"Don't give up sensitive information, Sakura." Naruto hissed back.

"Wait, the blond brat killed Meizu? No way. Meizu was a chunin and in a team with Gozu really dangerous." Zabuza exclaimed.

"Release." Naruto just quietly said, letting his resistance seals go completely.

"Ah, so these are not your normal genin? Or Meizu was just careless. Would make sense." Zabuza pondered.

He jumped from his position on the sword, taking the sword with him in the action and landed on the water.

"Hidden Mist jutsu." He said, creating a field of mist.

"No, not like this." Naruto said and flew through a bunch of seals himself. "Wind release. Spring gale." He declared and a strong gust of wind came up and blew the mist away.

"There is no way I let him use his silent killing technique." Naruto said.

Kakashi nodded, rushing at the revealed Zabuza.

"Annoying blond brat. Doesn't he like to wear his chunin vest?" Zabuza asked, taking on Kakashi openly now.

"He isn't chunin yet. But that will only be the case until the next exams." Kakashi said.

"No way that brat is a genin. I mean, what kind of games is Konoha playing?" He attacked with his sword, intent on cutting Kakashi in two. "That boy is a sensor, can use wind element and obviously did his homework. Why is he still genin?"

"That is nothing you should worry about. I'm your opponent." Kakashi said and countered every single attack Zabuza used.

Both jonin used tricks, clones, replacements and ferocious taijutsu to get the advantage against the other. Then Zabuza got in a kick, Kakashi flew towards the water, but threw a bunch of Makibishi nails on the ground to stop Zabuza from pursuing. He righted himself in the air and landed easily on the water. But as soon as he landed, the water sprang up, trapping him in a sphere of water.

"Now I have you." Zabuza said. "And your little team won't have any chance against me, once you're dealt with. As long as they didn't make it into my bingo book, they're not worth being called ninja. When I was their age, I already had massive amounts of blood on my hands."

While Sakura especially was shocked, Naruto and Sasuke remained calm and concentrated.

Kakashi looked for a method to get out of here. He could use lightning element to fry Zabuza, but that would also weaken himself and he didn't know if the jutsu was kept by a water clone or Zabuza himself. But obviously he needed worry. Naruto was again taking action.

"Shadow clone jutsu." He said and posted twenty clones around Tazuna, Sasuke and Sakura.

"Keep watch while I get Kakashi sensei out." Naruto said.

Sasuke nodded. He knew that if one of them had a chance to get their sensei out of the water sphere it would be Naruto. As much as he hated being second best to the blond. And then Naruto disappeared faster then he ever did before.

Zabuza just had time to parry the hit with the tanto the blond was wielding.

"Fast." He brought out.

"This is nothing." Naruto said and vanished again.

Zabuza was now concerned and made ten water clones. But only ten seconds after he had made them, they were destroyed and the water splashed back into the lake he was standing upon. And he couldn't see anything. Damn, that brat was faster than most jonin. He needed to evade a fast flurry of strikes with that damned tanto which was seemingly chakra conducting and channelled the blond's wind chakra. And the blond knew how to use it. He barely managed to keep up the water prison. But when he glimpsed back he saw Kakashi not being inside anymore, but a cloud of smoke. Instead Kakashi and the blond brat stood opposite of each other, going through a chain of handseals each.

"Water release: Water dragon jutsu." They both exclaimed and two water dragons raced at Zabuza.

He just managed to dodge the two dragons, cursing under his breath. That wasn't part of the plan. Going up against two jonin. And one of them obviously a speed devil. He now was at a massive disadvantage. While he could take on Kakashi while utilizing his silent killing technique, the blond made that jutsu useless. Additionally you couldn't underestimate a sharingan. Kakashi was famous for a reason. But now Kakashi seemed to have another idea how to take him out. He went through a few different seals. The blond was covering the way to the land where his shadow clones and the other two were protecting the bridge builder. He needed back-up. He had hoped to keep Haku out of this, but it didn't seem to be possible. He gave a secret signal that told Haku to intervene.

"Lightning release: Lightning torrent." Kakashi exclaimed.

"Ice release: Ice dome." Another voice sounded and a dome of ice appeared around Zabuza and a second figure.

"So you had an accomplice hidden. I wondered it he really was a Kiri hunter nin, but that answers that question." Naruto said.

"So you knew. Well, nothing else to be expected from a sensor type." Zabuza said, glad that Haku had blocked the attack.

"Haku, take out the blond. I'll take Kakashi." Zabuza said.

Haku nodded.

"Naruto, stop holding back and go all out." Kakashi ordered.

"You sure?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. if Zabuza trusts this ninja to have his back, you can be sure he is strong." Kakashi said.

"Understood, sensei." Naruto said.

Haku attacked Naruto fast, but Naruto was faster. While Haku went at high chunin speed, Naruto could go high jonin speed. Both boys peppered the other with senbons, shuriken and kunai. Naruto deflected all of the ones sent his way, but Haku was hit a few times. None of the senbons managed to hit a vital area, but Naruto knew the poison would soon do its job.

"Ice release: One thousand needles of death." Haku said. Creating a dome of ice needles that shot at Naruto.

"Water release: Water encampment wall." Naruto countered the move and the needles just managed to be caught in the barrier of water.

"So you're a water element too." Haku said.

"You know that I can use both wind and water, but ice I've never seen. A bloodline limit?" Naruto guessed.

"Indeed. Which means you have no chance to win against me." Haku said. "Ice release: demonic ice mirrors."

A dome of ice mirrors surrounded Naruto and the water under him froze as well. He looked around and saw Haku in all of the mirrors.

"Now you are doomed. Not even Zabuza Sama can break this jutsu." Haku confidently said.

"We will see, Haku." Naruto replied calmly. Then he was attacked from all sides by senbons. He deflected most, but some got stuck in his legs.

"A speed technique. You switch positions from one mirror to the other faster than I can see. But it's no time space ninjutsu." Naruto analysed.

Haku was shocked and without the hunter nin mask Naruto would have seen it on his face. How could he analyse the jutsu so quickly?

"Wind release: Great breakthrough." Naruto said and not only blew away the next barrage of senbons, but also managed to make a dent into the mirror.

"Chakra strengthens the mirrors. That must cost you a shitload of chakra to keep up." Naruto commented.

"That doesn't matter, Naruto. Before I run out of chakra, you'll be dead. So you should just give up and hand over the old man. It would save your and your team's lives." Haku offered.

"No, thanks, Haku. I'd never just give up a mission because things get a little bit complicated. The last jutsu was just a test run. Now I know that my other jutsu can break these mirrors." He stated confidently.

"Not even Zabuza Sama could get out of here." Haku said.

"Well, then you'll just have to see if you don't believe me." Naruto said and concentrated chakra in his hand before he threw a three pronged kunai at a mirror and disappeared. "Rasengan." He exclaimed and pushed the spinning ball at the mirror.

The mirror resisted exactly five seconds before rips appeared on the surface and it finally broke into pieces. Naruto used his normal high speed to reach the other mirrors and soon the whole dome was in shards.

"Impossible." Haku whispered but was soon forced to dodge Naruto's sword attacks.

Meanwhile Zabuza was losing his cool in Kakashi's game of copy the demon. He completely brought Zabuza out of his cool and in the end he nailed him with a giant waterfall jutsu and pinned him to a tree with kunai.

"Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked annoyed.

"Yes, and your future is death." Kakashi said, ramming the kunai into Zabuza's chest.

He heard an outcry of pain out on the lake and when he turned around, he saw Naruto had also ended his fight. A minute later he was walking towards the shore, carrying a bound opponent on his shoulder.

"Any problems, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Not really, Kakashi sensei. But his demonic ice mirrors afforded a bit more power than I originally had thought to break." Naruto answered.

* * *

**Okay, this is the start of the Wave Arc. Till in two weeks.**


	18. Naruto's Real Level

**Hi, here is the next chapter. Thanks for all your reviews. Now happy reading.**

* * *

**Naruto's Real Level**

Sasuke and Sakura were shocked. Never had Naruto shown that kind of power and skill before. Sasuke was fuming in jealousy. How could Naruto be that strong? How could he become that strong?

"What the hell? How can you be so strong?" Sakura yelled at Naruto.

"Training." The blond answered.

"Why are you still a genin?" Sasuke asked trying to suppress his jealousy.

Naruto sighed. He had hoped to avoid that discussion for a bit longer.

"Problems with the civilian council. They hate me for some reason and before I wasn't strong enough to be absolutely sure they couldn't prevent me becoming a ninja I didn't want to risk early graduation. As a ninja the Hokage is the only one with power over me. But with the real genin test being a hurdle to take, I couldn't risk being screwed over on purpose. I could have graduated easily with ten, but then the sensei would probably have intentionally failed my team. The only one the council would never have let fail was you, Sasuke. That's the reason I pretended to be the dead last. I wanted to be placed on the same team like you to not give the council a reason to try and screw me over." Naruto said.

"Why would they do that? They aren't like that!" Sakura protested.

Naruto finally cracked, he was still high on adrenaline and he had to keep his emotions bottled up for a long time.

"Yes, they are and your mother is one of the worst members! I've been kicked out of the orphanage I lived in with five on orders of the council! I've been denied proper service in nearly all stores on orders of the council! I've been tried to be denied entrance to the academy on orders of the council, but as it is the ninja academy, the Hokage could simply order them to let me in there. The teachers tried to sabotage me on orders of the council. And the military police also did their very best to make my life miserable. They never persecuted anyone who beat me up. The culprits got off on flimsy excuses or were forced to pay a small fine. And they themselves were part of ninety eight of hundred attacks on me. You wanted to know why I dislike you. That's your reason. I can barely tolerate you. But I think holding children responsible for the sins of their parents is wrong." Naruto said icily, sealed the captured Haku in another prisoner scroll and walked away.

"He's lying! Kakashi sensei, he's lying!" Sakura screeched.

"No, he isn't, Sakura. Everything he said was the truth." Kakashi reprimanded her, shocking her. "Normally, if there hadn't been prejudices against him, Naruto would already be jonin by now. You have seen that he is much stronger than any of you. We just kept the true difference a secret to not discourage you. Naruto's strength isn't the result of some bloodline limit or secret ability his family has. It is the result of thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears. And Sasuke, what he said about your clan is also true. The Uchiha didn't behave honourably when Naruto was concerned. He hates your clan and he has every reason to do so. They were some of the ones that cried the loudest to have him killed for something he had no control over and which saved the village. But he was made the scapegoat for an event the village couldn't deal with when you were still infants. So it would be in your best interest to not antagonize him." Kakashi stated.

Sasuke had problems believing his sensei's words. He had adored his father and his clan, he had wanted to become like his father, but hearing that he had allowed to let a boy his age be beaten by Uchihas and other villagers, didn't sit right with him. That was not honourable and didn't prove the Uchiha superiority at all. Itachi had been at odds with his father for some time, was that the reason? When he had been little and Itachi had still been his nice big brother, he had once told him about a lonely little boy, whom he had protected by a mob of drunk villagers on the day of the Kyubi festival. Was Naruto the boy? Itachi hadn't mentioned the boy's name, only that he didn't deserve how he was treated in the village.

During their time at the academy he hadn't spent much thought on Naruto. He had been the class clown, the dead last who couldn't even properly do the transformation jutsu. But yet here was the same boy, fighting on par with an elite jonin like Zabuza and taking out a strong ninja like that boy with the mask in a one-on-one fight like it was nothing. That masked boy was at least high chunin level from what he had seen. And Kakashi had said Naruto was jonin level. Damn, things were really screwed up. But perhaps Naruto was the one who could understand him. He was as lonely as him, was working hard for his goals, whatever they were, and his clan had also been massacred in the past. He was the sole survivor of the Uzumaki clan. Damn, this threw his whole perception of things apart.

Kakashi then had a small bout of exhaustion which was cured by a seal Naruto took from Kakashi's pouch and placed on his neck. After a minute Kakashi was back to normal, if a bit more tired than usually.

* * *

Tazuna led the subdued team to his home. While the revelations about the blond's past had been unsettling, he knew he was safe as long as this team was close by. The rest of the journey went without further incidents. Once they reached Tazuna's home, the old man introduced them to his daughter Tsunami. She was very happy that her father had made it back safely and had got such strong protection.

"Kakashi sensei, I need to tell you some things my clones found out." Naruto said, once Tsunami has disappeared into the kitchen and Tazuna had gone to change his clothes.

"The scouting clones?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes. I had them fly over the whole island to get an idea of the situation here. The villager's situation is even worse than Tazuna described. Children are homeless on the streets, begging for some food, but nobody has anything to spare. People are forced to leave their homes by thugs if they can't pay the absurd amounts of money Gato demands as protection fees. There are nearly no fields where corn or vegetables are grown and if, they are surrounded by Gato's thugs. There are two locations where those thugs live. A camp on the other side of the island and a base close to this town. My clones assume that in the camp are perhaps five hundred of those thugs and in the base probably the same number. Now that we have taken out Zabuza and Haku, I fear Gato could mobilize those thugs to take care of the problem that Tazuna poses himself." Naruto reported.

"That's really bad. And even if I called back-up from Konoha, they wouldn't be here on time. Damn, that only leaves one option really." Kakashi said and Naruto nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked confused while Sasuke's face had gone hard.

"Assassination." Sasuke said.

"Correct Sasuke. I will have to leave you and Sakura here to protect Tazuna and his family. Naruto and I are the only ones skilled enough to take out those amounts of thugs. Barricade the house and take shifts sleeping. Naruto can leave you a few shadow clones, but he needs all his chakra for the mission." Kakashi said.

"We first need more detailed information on the two bases. The camp seems to be a normal one with tents and a few barracks. But you never know. And I also can't tell from the short investigation my clones did if there might be other ninjas Gato has hired." Naruto said.

"Okay. I'll send one of my summons off to Konoha to inform the Hokage. He will probably reach the village in a day if he runs the whole distance. Then we could have back-up here in two to three days. Depending on how fast Gato acts that could be just early enough for us. While the normal thugs are no problem for ninjas, these numbers are concerning. Naruto get twenty clones to map out the base and the camp. Do you have an up to date bingo book?" Kakashi asked and got a nod from the blond.

Naruto walked out of the house and made forty clones, transformed them in small birds, they would transform into something else once they were near the two bases, and sent them on their way.

"Okay, I should have the information we need in two or three hours." He said.

Kakashi nodded.

"How many of the chakra storage seals do you have fully charged, sensei?" Naruto asked.

"Five. Well, I'll need to recharge the one I already used and I have the other five you gave me but they also need to be filled." Kakashi said.

"Hm, you should probably do it now and then rest. But we still have a problem. If you need to use your sharingan again, you tire too fast still." Naruto said.

"True, but no medic ever found a solution for me to turn off the eye. It stays activated all the time and drains my reserves more than it would normally do." Kakashi said, getting the interest of Sasuke.

"How comes you have a sharingan? Are you an Uchiha, Kakashi sensei?" He asked.

"No, I'm not. That eye was a present from my best friend. It is a reminder of my biggest mistake." Kakashi said.

"Stop blaming yourself for that incident. Obito wouldn't want you to beat yourself up about it. In the end you did the right thing and went with him to save Rin. It was his decision to protect you and Rin. Don't you think he would rather you honoured his memory by making sure it never happens again than dwelling on the past?" Naruto asked.

"You know?" Kakashi asked. "The journal?"

"Yes. He wrote the whole incident down. He never blamed you. He was proud how you turned around and always protected your comrades." Naruto confirmed.

"Thanks, Naruto." Kakashi said.

The whole discussion went over the heads of Sasuke and Sakura.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked annoyed.

"That one day you have to stop living in the past and look into the future." Kakashi said. He didn't further explain it.

* * *

Naruto got the feedback from his clones three hours later and meditated half an hour to process it all. Then he made two more clones. One started drawing a map and the other took out the bingo book to look up the pages with the ninjas he had identified in Gato's hideout. The original started eating a ration bar. Once he was done with the bar, he went to Kakashi.

"We have a small problem, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said.

"What kind of problem?" Kakashi asked.

"Well, for one my clones found out that Gato never planned on paying Zabuza. He intended to double-cross him as soon as Tazuna was dead. But he had three other ninjas there. Ninjas with Iwa headbands. I don't know if they are just doing normal business with him or if they were hired to end Zabuza's job, but they could pose a massive problem. My clone is just looking them and the four missing nins that I saw up in the bingo book." Naruto said.

"Why are Iwa ninjas a problem? While we were at opposite sides in the war; that was fourteen years in the past." Sakura asked.

"It's because who is on our team. I have a massive bounty on my head from Iwa for my part in the third shinobi war. If any Iwa ninja can get away with it, they'll try to take me out for sure, especially as my sensei was the fourth Hokage. They hate no other ninja as much as the Yellow Flash, even if sensei died twelve years ago when he sacrificed his life to defeat the Kyubi. And Naruto unfortunately from a distance could be thought to be related to sensei. They have the same hair colour. If Iwa even thinks there could be a relative of the Yellow Flash, they would attack on principle just to end any possible Namikaze. You have no idea how many Yamanakas died shortly after the war just because they had a darker shade of blond hair." Kakashi explained. "The Hokage had to change the teams that were assigned missions close to Earth Country to keep the Yamanakas away from there."

"I'll better change my hair colour then for the mission. Perhaps red would go well. After all, all the Uzumakis had red hair." Naruto pondered.

"No, that also doesn't work. You'll have to disguise yourself completely without relying on a jutsu. Iwa ninjas are masters of spotting those. Was a major problem in the war." Kakashi refused the idea.

"Okay, full body disguise it is then. Good that I have something like that in my spare clothes." Naruto said.

Kakashi knew which attire that was. It was Naruto's dark phoenix disguise. But as long as he didn't use the name that shouldn't be found out. Sasuke was deep in thought. Kakashi might have played it down, but was there a relation between Naruto and the Yondaime Hokage? Their faces were somewhat similar, but the faces on the Hokage Monument weren't that good for comparison. He tried to remember the photo in the Hokage's office, but he had never really paid attention to it. Probably he would have to wait until they returned to Konoha to compare the two. If Naruto was a relative of the Yondaime, it would be best to not be on his bad side, besides the fact that Naruto was already jonin in all but name.

Naruto's clone came into the room and showed them the bingo book entries.

"I found who the most important ones are. Tomoharu Haskaya, 39 years old, jonin from Iwa, A ranked. Specializes in wide area earth jutsus. War veteran. Bounty 15.000.000 ryo. Known to be brutal against anybody connected to the Yondaime Hokage.  
Ichikawa Sansetsu, 21 years old, chunin from Iwa, B-ranked. Specializes in earth enhanced taijutsu. Said to have a body armour comparable to granite. Bounty 1.500.000 ryo. Holds a grudge against Konoha for the loss of both parents in the third war.  
Mikiko Kamizuri, 24 years old, jonin from Iwa, B-ranked. Specialized in insect based jutsu comparable to the Aburame clan. Bounty 3.800.000 ryo. Known to have sworn to kill the Copy ninja.

"Those are the three from Iwa. Then there were these three that are normal missing nins or missing nins that went to another village." The clone said and showed them three other pictures.

"Aoi Rokusho, 25 years old, jonin from Ame. Missing nin from Konoha for treason, including theft of the sword of the Nidaime Hokage. B-ranked. Specialized in shooting senbons from an umbrella and kenjutsu using the sword of the lightning god. Bounty 5.000.000 ryo.  
Kimie Roino, 19 years old, former chunin from Kiri, B+ ranked. Missing nin. Bloodline limit of Poison Touch. Anybody who is touched by her on bare skin is poisoned and if not treated immediately dies if not immune against the type of poison used. Bounty 9.000.000 ryo. Known to work with Zabuza Momochi.  
Sanae Nogunaba, 20 years old, former chunin from Kiri, A-ranked. Missing nin. Bloodline limit of Steel Release. Can turn her whole body into steel. Also known as the living blade. Bounty 15.000.000 ryo. Known to work with Zabuza Momochi." The clone read out.

"That definitely poses a problem. If those ninjas interfere with our plan to infiltrate and assassinate the bases it will be much harder to get this country out of Gato's grip. Were there others that weren't part of the bingo book?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Aoi Rokusho has a genin team with him. Didn't look too strong to me. If we're lucky and Gato doesn't find out about Zabuza's death that soon, the Iwa nins might be gone. I can't imagine somebody like Gato working with regular ninjas. Those he can't really double-cross. That would only give him trouble from their villages." Naruto said.

"Yes, please keep an eye on things with a few transformed clones. I don't want to get nasty surprises. I remember Mikiko. She's a hard opponent. She hates me because at the end of the war I managed to copy many of her clan's techniques and handed them over to the Aburame, the rivals of the Kamizuri. From there on the Aburames blocked every plan of the Kamizuri." Kakashi informed his students.

* * *

Meanwhile at Gato's hideout said business tycoon was frowning that there hadn't been any message from Zabuza. With the last information he had got, he knew that that cursed bridge builder was on his way back in company of some Konoha ninja. How he hated ninjas. But to fight them you needed another ninja or overwhelming numbers. Well, he still had the two girls that Zabuza had left behind because he didn't think he would need more support than that Haku boy; he feared they wouldn't be as effective as Zabuza. He could ask the Iwa nins that were here at the moment to take the Konoha ninjas out; they held a grudge against them since their last ninja war after all, but he wouldn't be able to cheat them out of their money. Zabuza and his entourage were easy. Except for the Haku boy all were in that bingo book and if he double crossed and killed them after the mission was fulfilled nobody would look into it any closer. And through a front man he had collected some nice bounties. Aoi was a known missing nin from Konoha, so he could blame things on the Konoha ninjas, but the Iwa ninjas were a problem.

They had been the protection of the last shipment from one of his business partners in the land of earth. They would return tomorrow with the return shipment. But if the Konoha ninjas were that strong, they might be the only ones capable of taking them out. But he didn't know who Konoha had sent. And he didn't know if Zabuza had failed or if things simply took longer after the demon brothers had been discovered.

"Boss, the bridge builder was seen to come back to his home accompanied by four ninjas with Konoha headbands." One of his minions reported suddenly.

Well, that meant Zabuza had failed. Now he needed more information. He saw the Iwa ninjas standing close by. That could be a chance to get them to help without hiring them. Perhaps there was a ninja with the group that they hated enough to attack without payment.

"Do you have a description of the Konoha ninjas?" He asked, looking for that bingo book he had organized. While he hated ninja, it was always advisable to know your enemy.

"Yes. There are three kids, two boys and one girl, perhaps twelve or thirteen from what they look like, and one man. The man has silver, spiky hair and his face is mostly hidden with a face mask and his headband over one eye." The man reported.

"WHAT?" A loud scream from the female Iwa ninja came.

'Seems like I am lucky and she has a grudge. That could work out well for me.' Gato thought.

"Do you know that ninja?" Gato asked.

"Do I know him? Of course I know him! That is that damn Copy Ninja, Kakashi Hatake. Oh, what a nice coincidence. Now I can fulfil my promise and kill him. Painfully." She said cackling.

"Mikiko, don't be hasty. Our job is to protect the shipment. We need to find out more to see if it is advisable to act. While I wouldn't mind getting rid of **his** student, we need to still do our duty. What do the kids look like? If there are some kids from important clans the Tsuchikage might not mind if we returned a bit late." The leader of the team, Tomoharu, said.

"Tomoharu, why hesitate? There is only one team and with how it sounds it's only Kakashi and a genin team. He will be busy protecting the kids and not fight at full power. And I also heard he slacked off the past few years and is nowhere near his former level." Mikiko argued.

"No reason to be careless. Kakashi Hatake is a formidable opponent. If the opportunity offers itself, you can go after him. Now how do the kids look like?" Tomoharu asked.

"The three look like normal kids to me. The girl a bit on the thin side. She has pink hair in a ponytail and wears a red shirt, black tight shorts and a red skirt. On her back was a white ring, perhaps a clan symbol. The first boy has black hair that looks like a duck-butt, blue shirt, white shorts, lower legs covered with white bandages. A red and white fan on the back of the shirt. The second boy has spiky blond hair, long black pants with dark red bandages on the bottom, dark grey shirt over a dark red one with a dark red vest. Couldn't see any clan signs as I wasn't close enough." The man who saw the group told them.

"Hm, that could be profitable. The black haired one is the last Uchiha and the blond one probably a Yamanaka. Two of the important clans of Konoha. I haven't heard about the girl's sign, probably civilian background. Alone the Uchiha in combination with killing Kakashi would be worth it. Okay, we will go after them. Let them feel safe. After Zabuza failed against them, they'll probably be on guard for one or two days, after that they'll lower their guard a bit. We can afford to wait three days before we strike. Mikiko, you wanted Kakashi, you can have a go at him, but Ichikawa will have your back. I'll get the two boys and then support you." Tomoharu said.

"YES! Count your days Kakashi, they will end soon." Mikiko cheered.

Nobody noticed a small black mouse vanishing in a cloud of smoke.

* * *

"Shit." Naruto commented when the memory hit him.

"Let me guess, the Iwa nins will come after us." Kakashi said.

"Yes, the Kamizuri is determined to kill you and their leader wants to kidnap me and Sasuke to take us to Iwa. They think that I'm a Yamanaka and know he's an Uchiha thanks to the family crest on his back." Naruto said.

"Any plans when the attack will happen?" Kakashi asked.

"In three days. They want to lure us into feeling safe before striking." Naruto answered.

"Okay, that could be enough time to take out Gato and his thugs if we do this the right way. And messages from your clones that spied in the camp?" Kakashi asked.

"Nothing bad. Only your normal thugs there. Except for their numbers we can take them out easily."

Kakashi nodded.

"If we have to expect ninjas attacking us in three days we will probably have to adjust our plans a bit. The camp is on the other side of the island, meaning an hour away on ninja speed. We can use that to our advantage. Perhaps we can avoid the Ame ninjas and the Kiri missing nins coming after us if we are fast enough. Naruto, we take out the camp and the base tonight. Can you get the maps done before then?" Kakashi asked, shocking Sakura.

"They are being drawn by my clones at the moment. I can leave the camp to a group of five hundred clones. In the dark they wouldn't be seen if they slip into the camp transformed. Once I have one clone close to every thug I can simply kill them. That shouldn't take more than a minute once the clones are in position." Naruto informed Kakashi.

"That will probably be our best bet. Without a ninja in the camp the thugs are easy prey and with your shadow clones you could make that a fast deal. Do you have chakra storage seals for yourself?" Kakashi asked.

"Ten fully filled. I'm good in that regard. The only thing I fear is that if we act now the Iwa nins could get the idea to strike earlier. While I can fortify the house with seals that will take them at least twenty hours to break through, that will still be a narrow thing hoping for the reinforcements from Konoha. My suggestion is to take out the camp early tonight and the base early in the morning. That way we can win a few precious hours. That would also give me the time to set up the seals." Naruto said.

"Hm, that makes sense. Can you make some chakra storage seals for Sasuke and Sakura? I want them to have at least one for emergencies." Kakashi said.

"No problem, sensei." Naruto said and put two clones to work on that.

"Boss, the map of the base is ready." A clone shouted.

"Good. Now let's see." Kakashi said, taking the map from the clone.

The planning of the attack was going pretty well. The only thing that interrupted things was Naruto having to tell Inari just why his attitude was dead wrong and fatalistic. While his harsh words were hard on the boy, Kakashi knew he needed to hear them. Kakashi made sure to inform Inari just why Naruto had said what he had said and how hard his life had been and that he didn't just give up, but worked to overcome his problems. By now Naruto was the strongest in his age group. Inari had a lot to think about after that talk.

* * *

**Okay, that's it for this weekend, till next time.**


	19. Assassination

**Hi, here is chapter 19, enjoy.**

* * *

**Assassination**

It was just eleven and everything was quiet. Their next bigger job would be in three days and until then he would be off duty. He had just finished his last guard shift and was about to shower and then turn in for the night. Tomorrow evening he would go to the brothel Gato had graciously placed in the camp. While the women they had there were nothing special and used, sometimes a man just needed a pussy to fuck. He walked towards his bunk when he felt a cut on his throat and a sharp pain, and then everything went black.

Naruto's clones had taken positions since the original Naruto had given the command and produced the number of clones needed for this dirty mission. Each clone had about two thugs to kill. No flashy jutsus, no false bravery, just simple by the book assassination. Infiltration of the camp, taking position close to the targets and then a quick kill. He would later have to deal with the effects of his kills. He theoretically knew why this was necessary. If the thugs were left alive, they would be a threat to their mission and Wave would never recover. Even if the villagers would finally wake up and stand up to Gato, these numbers were simply too much. A group of thirty thugs was one thing. That a group of determined villagers could handle if they really wanted. But thousand? No wonder that Gato had no problems controlling the people. The clones knew not to dispel until they got the signal. The original Naruto couldn't be distracted with his guilt for taking all those lives. Within five minutes five hundred thugs had died thanks to them not suspecting anything.

Only one clone dispelled and he had only got the signal from the clones in the camp that the deed was done. He had seen nothing of the blitz attack and would only inform the original that the job was done. Otherwise Naruto wouldn't be able to perform in the rest of the mission properly. And that would definitely end in all their deaths.

* * *

It was five in the morning. In one hour shifts would be changed and fresh guards would take over. Kakashi and Naruto would enter the building from two sides. Both completely disguised with no insignia of a village. Naruto waited until the planned time and transformed to bypass the two guards undetected. Once inside the building, he went for the rooms that were his targets. The dorms of the normal thugs. They were located on the lower levels. The upper levels were the supposedly stronger thugs and the ninjas. That would be Kakashi's job. Naruto still had enough rooms to cover. With the base currently holding four hundred thugs, he had two hundred to kill. Once he had reached the silent corridor where the first bunch of thugs slept, he made three clones for each room and sent them inside.

After not even a minute all the clones returned and just nodded. Meaning they had killed the thugs. Naruto repeated the performance on the next two floors. The last floor was a bit different. He coincidentally found Aoi Rokusho awake on that floor.

"Seems my hunch was correct. The hours shortly before dawn are perfectly suited for an attack. You won't kill me as easily as those common thugs." He said and took out his umbrella.

Naruto knew that he should keep this mission as silent as possible and placed a silencing seal on the wall.

"Now we won't disturb the others. We can be as noisy as we want to be." Naruto said.

"You're very delusional if you think you can defeat me. I'm a jonin, no comparison to those thugs that don't know how a ninja works." Aoi boasted.

"I will enjoy disillusioning you on your arrogance. You only are listed as B-ranked missing nin from Konoha because you stole the sword of the Nidaime Hokage. It's the sword that's strong, not you." Naruto taunted.

"I'll show you just how powerful I am. You want to see the sword of the Lightning God? That can be arranged." He snapped and took the sword from the belt he wore and activated it.

"A really impressive weapon. One that I want back. You see, that sword should have been held by the Hokage until I was old enough to use it. It is a family heirloom." Naruto revealed.

"Wait, the Nidaime didn't have any direct descendants." Aoi said.

"Says who? I am his great-grandson, so that sword is mine. And I will show you another family secret." Naruto said and threw a tri-pronged kunai at Aoi and vanished in a yellow flash, already readying a rasengan in his hand which he rammed into Aoi's gut. "You see, lightning may be strong and fast, but the Flying Thundergod jutsu of my Dad is faster."

"N-Namikaze." Aoi croaked out, feeling his body failing.

"Indeed. And contrary to you I can back up jonin rank with abilities." Naruto said, watching Aoi die.

His clones meanwhile had taken care of the last thugs on the floor and the three Ame genin. Naruto sealed Aoi's body in a scroll to collect his bounty later on. He then exited the building like he had discussed with Kakashi. He left a few shadow clones transformed behind to find out how Gato would react when he returned from his night at the brothel Naruto had heard him talking about.

* * *

Naruto knelt in front of the loo and was vomiting. He had given his clones the command to dispel and by now all the killings of the last night had been transferred to his mind. If other kinds of clones would have the ability to use jutsu, he would have used them. They at least didn't transfer the memories. But now he was facing the guilt for killing all those people. Sure, they were criminals that had killed, raped, beaten up and blackmailed others, but taking a life through assassination was never easy.

Naruto didn't notice when Kakashi entered the bathroom and handed him a glass of water to get the remains of his vomit taste out of his mouth.

"It's okay, Naruto. That kind of reaction is normal after the kind of mission we did." Kakashi said. "I would have been surprised if you didn't break down once you got the memories from your clones. Do you want to talk about it?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto looked up with his bloodshot eyes and saw that Kakashi had changed his clothes. The other ones had been bloodied from the mission.

"I feel so guilty. I technically know that there was no other way to protect Tazuna and his family and get us a chance to survive this mission. I also know they would have killed us in an instant and did with others before. But I can't stop shaking. I can't stop seeing the pictures in my mind." Naruto said. "Somehow the fight against Aoi was easier as he was aware what he could do and that I would kill him if he messed up. He never had the chance because I was too fast with my first attack. I, I used Dad's jutsus. When I saw him, I realized that I had the chance to get great-grandpa's sword back. I couldn't pass up on that. And he seemed to have waited for somebody to use the hours before dawn to attack." Naruto said.

"I understand. The first time going out to assassinate others isn't easy. You are somewhat blessed and cursed at the same time to be so good at your job. Thanks to your shadow clones you could postpone being hit with the whole dimension of what you did last night, but now it comes back in heaps. I can only tell you what your Dad told me. 'As long as you are capable of feeling remorse for what you had to do, you didn't lose your humanity. We are ninjas and in battle or on missions we have to kill to protect those that can't protect themselves. But I refuse to regard taking the life of a criminal that would kill innocents without a second thought as murder. It's more like putting down a rabid animal.' That was after we had to take out a bandit camp that had caused trouble in Fire Country. I killed twenty bandits on that mission, fifteen of them in their sleep. It's never easy. It will never really get easier, but we all know that if we don't do our job, the next ones dying won't be the criminals, but their innocent victims." Kakashi said.

"Thank you, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said gratefully.

"You're welcome, Naruto. Here take these and sleep for some hours. They're pills to soothe your stomach." Kakashi said and held out two little light blue pills.

Naruto nodded and gulped the pills down with some water.

"I'll knock myself out with one of my poisons. It will last five hours. Otherwise I won't be able to get any sleep which would be fatal for me. I can guarantee that my seals will keep any attackers out for that time. If any of the ninjas should try to attack us, this is the antidote. I'll be at full strength after getting it ten minutes later." Naruto said.

"You aren't immune to your own poisons?" Kakashi asked surprised.

"To most of them I am. Kyubi's chakra in my system works like a natural antidote. If I have enough time to recover and don't have other dangerous injuries, I won't die from any poisoning. This one I specially developed to circumvent the Kyubi's chakra. After I found out about the possibilities of poisons and that I was a jinchuriki I wanted something that could take out another jinchuriki. I refuse to just rely on Kyubi whenever things get dangerous. And I know that the fox's chakra is a double edged sword. It may be incredibly powerful, but I have a high price to pay if I use it. Kyubi is so full of hate that it will try to control me if I give in to the temptation of using its chakra." Naruto said.

"That's sound reasoning. Well, I'll put Sasuke and Sakura on guard, then I'll turn in myself." Kakashi said.

Naruto nodded and walked to the room where he, Sasuke and Kakashi slept. He injected the sleeping poison into his vein and was soon fast asleep.

* * *

Five minutes after Naruto fell asleep Kakashi woke up Sasuke.

"Come with me." Kakashi said.

Sasuke stood up and followed his sensei.

"How did the missions go, Kakashi sensei?" He asked.

"It went off without problem. Naruto got rid of the Ame genin and Aoi Rokusho, we are down nine hundred thugs and I captured Sanae Nogunaba and Kimie Roino who were thankfully asleep, which I strengthened with a bit of one of Naruto's poisons that he gave me before we started, and didn't put up any resistance. They may be missing nins from Kiri, but their bloodline limits are very valuable. If we could convince them and that Haku boy that Naruto defeated and captured to join Konoha it would be very beneficial for the village. Either way, they could possess important information which our T&I department will find out. You and Sakura are to keep watch over the house. Tazuna can't go out today. We need to wait for back-up from Konoha until we can let him continue building his bridge." Kakashi said.

"Understood, sensei." Sasuke said.

Sakura joined them.

"Good morning, Sasuke, Kakashi sensei. How was your mission?" Sakura asked.

"A success. Sasuke can tell you more. One more thing. Wake me if we are attacked by anybody. Naruto won't wake for five hours; he knocked himself out with one of his poisons to be able to get some sleep. And if possible I want him to get all the sleep he can get. Don't ask him about the mission when he wakes up. He had to assassinate hundreds. While they weren't difficult to kill, he still feels guilty for taking all those lives. You too will find out in your career that killing an opponent in a fight and assassinating somebody in their sleep are two very different things. Just let him come to terms with it." Kakashi said.

Both nodded. Kakashi left them to go up and sleep for some hours as well.

* * *

Gato was shell-shocked when he returned to his base. He had enjoyed a great night in one of his luxury brothels and was now ready to work on his business. Tomorrow the Iwa ninjas would take out the Konoha scum and perhaps the bridge builder. If they only got that strong Konoha ninja it would be enough. With the bridge builder on his own his thugs could deal. And then this country would completely be his. After all, who would be able to take up thousand thugs at the same time? Nobody. Even those pesky ninjas tired out after some time. He didn't like the silence in the base though. Normally there should have been his minions guarding the base or preparing a new delivery of drugs that was due this afternoon. When he told his guards to see what the reason for the silence was, he got a nasty surprise.

They were dead. Every single person here in the base was dead. After one hour he got the information that even the Ame ninjas he had had in the base were dead. The genin killed in their sleep and Aoi in a fight. But only his blood remained. His body couldn't be found. The former subordinates of Zabuza had also vanished, probably killed as well and their bodies taken for the bounties. Damn it all, how had this happened? He needed the Iwa ninjas to act now. This couldn't be tolerated. Then he thought of his second base. He would call back-up from there. These ninjas would get to know his power. While losing four hundred of his subordinates hurt in power, with six hundred remaining he still had more than enough manpower to keep the iron grip around Wave. And he didn't need to pay those four hundred anymore.

* * *

The Iwa nins stood in Gato's office listening to his ranting.

"I want you to take them out as soon as possible. They killed nine hundred of my thugs last night while I was out. The whole base on the other side of the island was taken out. From what the investigation turned out it happened even before this base was attacked. I don't care about lulling them to safety, I want them dead. I offer a million ryo for their heads." Gato said.

"We would have killed Kakashi anyway, but we have a deal. Though we will take the Uchiha with us to Iwa. But the Yamanaka and the girl are toast. Do you have better pictures of the group by now?" Tomoharu asked.

"Yes, we got some from closer up." Gato said and handed them the pictures of the group.

The Iwa nins looked over the pictures. The Uchiha and the pink haired girl were easy to recognize now, and Kakashi was well-known already, but the face of the blond boy could not be seen on any photo. And he seemed to have taken to put up his hood. Why would he do that? Well, it didn't really matter. He would be with the others and therefore easy to find. Then Ichikawa noticed a small crest on the boy's collar.

"Hey, Tomoharu, isn't that the Uzumaki crest? I mean that clan from Whirlpool Country that was killed by Iwa before the third war?" Ichikawa asked.

"Let me see. It could be, but it could also just be a decoration on his clothes. It's too small to really say. And from what I know there were no survivors of Uzushio. And all Uzumakis had red hair, not blond." Tomoharu said. "Either way, it doesn't matter if he is an Uzumaki. He is at most thirteen, so there would be no way he could be that good at fuinjutsu already. You need thousands of hours of training to become really good. We should probably prepare for some seals used against us, but nothing above intermediate level. Even that bastard Namikaze needed until he was twenty to become a seal master and he was a genius."

"So when do we attack?" Mikiko asked eagerly.

"In two hours. We will prepare for a hard decisive strike against them. They should be at the bridge builder's house. With how many thugs they killed last night the genin should be pretty traumatized. I didn't think Kakashi would go this far, but probably he had found out about the two full bases and wanted to reduce his opposition as long as he had an advantage. That's not the normal style those tree-huggers use." Tomoharu commented.

"Yes." The other two answered.

* * *

Two hours later Sakura shook Kakashi awake.

"Sensei, they are here." She informed him.

"Hm? That's earlier than I thought. Don't worry, I trust Naruto's seals. Let them try getting through them for a while. If Naruto is right, they will need twenty hours to get through the seals. I had four hours of sleep, not bad." Kakashi commented.

"Should we wake Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"No, he will wake up soon anyway. The antidote would need ten minutes to work and he normally will wake up in thirty minutes anyway. There is no reason to hurry." Kakashi said.

"Why are you so sure his seals will keep the Iwa nins out?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto is an Uzumaki." Kakashi simply stated.

* * *

About forty minutes later Naruto was completely awake again and was briefed on the situation.

"They are earlier than we thought they would be but not overly so." Naruto stated.

"Yes. I don't know how fast back-up from Konoha can come here. Probably not fast enough for us to avoid a fight with them. Two of them are jonin and one is a chunin. That won't be a big problem to deal with. Normally I would take on Tomoharu and let Naruto deal with Mikiko and Sasuke would fight Ichikawa. But with her being intent on killing me they won't let us do it like that. So the only fight we can probably stir that way will be the one of Sasuke. The main problem will be Tomoharu and his wide scale earth jutsus. Earth users in general are difficult to fight as they are really good at hiding and using the ground you walk on as their weapon." Kakashi said.

"His earth jutsus will be blocked by lightning based seals. They hold enough chakra for twenty hours, sensei. That's the reason I said I could guarantee the seals holding for twenty hours. If I manage to sneak out later and recharge the seals, we could last longer. But recharging all the seals will probably be impossible. It takes a lot of chakra. But if we are lucky the back-up will be here by then." Naruto said.

"So they have to get through lightning based seals? But what if they used wind jutsus?" Sakura asked.

"They would need a massively strong wind user to even make a dent in my seals. And wind users are really rare. Even Suna doesn't have many. The only one with higher skills is Baki. And even he doesn't have great area effect jutsus. Wind is the rarest of all elements to have." Naruto explained.

"How do you know so much?" Sasuke asked.

"I read the bingo book." Naruto answered.

Tazuna and his family wondered how long it would take until help would be here. Tazuna especially was really glad now that it was this team that had got the mission. To find a team like that was a very big coincidence. Who would have thought that ninjas could keep out intruders this efficiently?

* * *

Outside the Iwa nins were getting frustrated.

"Damn it all. We can't get through." Mikiko yelled in frustration. "I want to kill Kakashi!"

"Well, that seems to answer the question if the boy is an Uzumaki. Damn, I didn't think one had survived in Konoha. And it seems to be a prodigy if theses seals are any indication." Tomoharu said annoyed.

"What are we going to do? All our earth jutsus are stopped cold by that lightning seal barrier or whatever that may be. And even I know that there are some other seals too." Ichikawa commented.

"Keep your calm. No matter how good this boy is, there are limits to how long seals can constantly keep up a protection if they are based on an element. Even Uzushio itself was worn down after three days and they had chakra stored for years. Even if the boy prepared these seals beforehand and now just placed them in his whole protection array, they won't last forever if we attack them constantly. But we don't even need to. Konoha ninjas have one major weakness, they care too much. If we start attacking the civilians outside the protective sphere, they will try to protect them." Tomoharu said.

"Nice plan, but nope, it won't work." They heard a young voice behind them.

They turned around and saw a boy, clothed completely in grey with no recognisable features thanks to a hood and lower face mask sitting on a tree-branch.

"So you have come out, either you are very brave or very stupid." Tomoharu said.

"Or I'm just a clone and a messenger and therefore neither of your theories is correct." The boy said.

The Iwa nins had to admit that that would be a very probable option.

"What do you want?" Mikiko asked.

"Oh, for one, I wanted to ask you to just leave. We can avoid so much hassle. Fighting would be just so troublesome." The boy said.

'A Nara?' Ichikawa thought confused.

"I will kill Kakashi! No snot nosed brat will get me to leave!" Mikiko exclaimed.

"Ah, I feared there would be old grudges. Well, I also wanted to tell you that kidnapping the villagers won't do you any good. You're here on a mission for the Tsuchikage. If you don't return to Iwa soon, he will get cranky, and the old man already has problems with his hip. That will not please him. If you add an unprovoked attack on civilians, what do you think will happen to Iwa's mission income?" The boy asked.

Tomoharu had to grit his teeth. The boy was right. They couldn't afford to risk losing clients if these news got out. In war killing civilians was one thing, but while they had peace it was something entirely else. Even their militaristic leader wouldn't accept that. Especially as they couldn't just kill all witnesses that would tell about Iwa being the culprit. This wasn't a sanctioned mission after all.

"You see, you'll lose if you attack the civilians here. It would be better if you just finished your normal mission here and returned to Iwa. Take the information you have collected and go." The boy said.

"Who do you think you are to tell us what we should do?" Mikiko asked seething.

"Only a messenger. Which is good. Having to fight would be so troublesome." He said and dispelled in a cloud of smoke.

"So he really was a clone. That looked suspiciously like a shadow clone." Ichikawa said.

"It was one. That boy must have massive chakra reserves to pull that off. We need to consider our way of attack. We can wear down the seals, but we don't know if it will be enough. They are very safe in there. And if we exhaust our reserves to get the barrier down, we will also lose because fighting Kakashi after having to use up earth chakra for hours will be suicide." Tomoharu said.

"You really think that barrier will hold that long?" Ichikawa asked.

"You saw that shadow clone. Only those with jonin level chakra reserves can pull that jutsu off. And they have really good information on us. They knew what techniques we used. We can't even get one of Mikiko's bees through. They knew we would come for them, so they acted before we would. I guess they had another shadow clone spying on Gato when we decided to attack them. They got the information of how much time they would have and took out the camp and the base in one night. This team seems to be a genin team; there is no way that they could pull that off. The only one with experience in assassination is Kakashi and even he can't manage that scale of kills on his own. There must be another specialist or even a team that we don't know about. We need more information before we act. We can't risk losing one of us to an unauthorised fight as well, as much as I want to kill **his** student." Tomoharu analysed.

"So we are blocking them from getting out and wait until they have nothing to eat? That can take weeks." Mikiko complained.

"We don't have the time for that. If we had backup that could help us overpower this seal barrier we would be able to get them. But you can be sure that Kakashi already has his call for backup reach Konoha. He is smart like that and if they knew about us coming we can expect to have more opposition soon. They are biding their time in there. They are obviously convinced that they can last long enough for backup from Konoha to arrive. And face it; any chunin team would tip the scales against us. If they knew who we were before we came here, they will call for those that have the abilities to counter our specialties perfectly. They would need a high chunin Aburame or a good fire user for Mikiko, a good lightning user against Ichikawa and they already have Kakashi here to take on me. Or they simply send a team that has enough strength to keep you two on your toes while Kakashi and I have another battle. And don't forget that Konoha now seems to have another seal specialist. I think we can be relatively sure that the boy is an Uzumaki. Which means he will have more surprises that he didn't use yet." Tomoharu continued his analyse.

"So we are just giving up?" Mikiko asked.

"What else could we do that won't compromise our own mission? I can only keep up with the earth jutsus we would need to wear the lightning seals down for four hours. Ichikawa could do so for two hours. From what I estimate those seals will manage to keep us out for about fifteen hours if we went at full power against them. I read the report on the attack on Uzushio. They needed constant wearing down of the seals that protected the village for two days to start fighting. And even then our ninjas fell like the flies. The only reason Uzushio fell was that Konoha couldn't get there soon enough and that we had more than ten times the number of ninjas they had. And even then we lost the complete battalion that was there to the cursed Yellow Flash and the Red Devil when they arrived. The fall of Uzushio cost Iwa massively.

"Right now we can go back to Iwa, give Tsuchikage Sama our report and inform him that Konoha has an Uzumaki in their ranks that is damn good with seals and that there is a new assassination specialist. I don't know if that specialist is within Kakashi's team or not. It could also be that Konoha knew about Gato and his criminal activities and sent another person whose presence was concealed by that team coming here. We simply can't be sure and we don't have the means to kill the team as long as they are holed up in there." Tomoharu said.

"Shit, I hate it when you are right." Mikiko said.

"So we can probably also report that Wave won't be a good location for business for us soon. Kakashi seems to be intent on liberating the country from Gato. Otherwise he wouldn't have taken out the camp and the base." Ichikawa added.

"Yes, it seems like that." Tomoharu agreed.

"What do you think about destroying the bridge at least?" Mikiko asked.

"Not a bad idea. Perhaps we could even get them out of there to protect it." Tomoharu pondered. "Okay, we do it. Let's see if they won't come out then."

* * *

**So that's it for this weekend, till next time.**


	20. Fight for the Bridge

**And here is the end of the Wave Arc. Sorry for the small delay. Now happy reading.**

* * *

**Fight for the Bridge**

Inside the house Naruto was waiting for the report of his second, disguised shadow clone. When it dispelled when the Iwa team left, he turned to his team-mates and sensei.

"Well, they have decided that trying to wear down the seals won't do them any good and that it would be suicide to try and take us out after spending that much chakra on taking out the lightning seals. They intend to inform the Tsuchikage about Konoha having an Uzumaki skilled with seals in the ranks and about a new assassination expert, though they are not sure if it is one of us or someone else. The problem is they want to destroy the bridge before they go. And I can't make enough seals in time to protect the bridge." Naruto said grumbling, annoyed that he hadn't taken that possibility into account earlier on.

"So that's their last plan to get us out in the open. Our mission is to protect Tazuna until the bridge is finished. If he needs to start from scratch again, even if we take out Gato, that will cost us too much time. We will have to fight then. Sasuke, Sakura, have you loaded the chakra storage seals like I told you?" Kakashi asked looking at both of them questioningly.

Both nodded.

"Good. Sakura, you will prepare for being Sasuke's backup when he takes out as many thugs in the village as he can. I want you to get rid of them. Try conserving chakra if you can. No normal thug will be able to get through the seals here so Tazuna and his family are safe as long as they stay here. Sasuke, do you think you can take them out without me or Naruto backing you up? It will be your first kills." Kakashi asked.

"I can do it, sensei." Sasuke said confidently, silently pleased that his sensei would entrust him such a mission with only Sakura as backup.

While he would have preferred to test his strength against ninjas he had realised in their team training that he was a good distance away from being on the same level as Naruto and Kakashi. Knowing that Naruto was basically a jonin just without the experience required to get that rank was irking him to no end, but instead of complaining he would simply train as hard as he could and close the gap over time. One day he would be as strong as Naruto and after that Itachi would be the next one he took on. For now Naruto made a good levelling board to see how far he still had to go.

"Good. Don't hesitate. The thugs won't be a problem if you get them in smaller numbers, but be careful if you have more than ten at once. Sakura, I want you to aim to kill with thrown weapons. That should be the best way for you to help at the moment. Without me or Naruto being there in an emergency I want you to wait with close combat with bigger groups if you can avoid it." Kakashi declared sternly.

"Understood, sensei." Sakura said.

Naruto pulled up a mask over his lower face to completely disguise his most memorable features.

"Are you trying to copy sensei now, Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"No, I just can be identified too easily from the whisker marks on my face. We want to prevent Iwa getting too much information on me too early on. That they know that I'm an Uzumaki and skilled in fuinjutsu is already too much to know about me, but that couldn't be prevented. They don't need to get a good picture for their bingo books right now. I don't know if we can take them out or if they will escape, but the fight at the bridge if we want to prevent it from being destroyed will be hard. The less they know the better it will be." Naruto informed the others.

"Why wouldn't you want to be known out there? It will give you more respect." Sasuke asked confused.

"It is too early. I need more mission experience. If Iwa sees me as a threat too early on, it wouldn't do me any good. I have the skills, but not the experience to take on a strong fighter. As long as they underestimate me, I can get easier wins. Being a good ninja isn't about flashy jutsus, it's about getting the mission done efficiently. You don't want to fulfil a mission but have your team heavily injured or killed. That looks extremely bad in your record. And that can happen if you are seen as too big a threat to other villages. Ask Kakashi sensei, he went through that." Naruto replied neutrally already going into mission mode.

"It's true. With how early I graduated and who my father was, I was a popular target for enemies. I intentionally got a sensei that could make sure the attempts to take me out before I got too strong would fail." Kakashi confirmed.

"So that is the reason you got this team." Sasuke realized.

"Yes. One of them." Kakashi said.

* * *

Half an hour later on the bridge Kakashi and Naruto were waiting for the Iwa nins. Like they had expected they appeared shortly after they had arrived.

"So threatening to destroy the bridge did get you out of your hideout." Tomoharu said triumphantly.

"It would have been too troublesome to have the bridge builder rebuild the whole bridge." Naruto said.

"With how you talk some could think you are a Nara, boy." Ichikawa said.

"Who knows?" Naruto said shrugging his shoulders.

"I call dips on Kakashi." Mikiko said gleefully.

"Whatever. Ichikawa, do you want the boy? I will see if Mikiko can get rid of Kakashi herself and in case he is too strong for her I will help her." Tomoharu said.

"Sure. It will be great to kill this Konoha brat." Ichikawa said maliciously.

"Don't play, just take him out." Kakashi ordered Naruto.

"Yes, sensei." Naruto answered.

"You really think your little student can kill Ichikawa? No way. You will regret that you met us here on this mission." Mikiko sneered and let her bees out to attack Kakashi.

Naruto looked at Ichikawa. He had already released all his seals and was ready to go at full speed. His opponent was a mainly earth element user, which meant he had to keep his jutsus to mostly lightning. And he was a taijutsu specialist, which he enhanced with earth chakra. Well, now his work with the lightning element seals would fully pay off.

"You should just give up, boy. There is no way that you can beat me." Ichikawa said.

"I think differently. Let me show you." Naruto said and took out his tanto.

"You will see why my armour is so famous. No kenjutsu user has managed to get through it. Earth armour." He said after flying through a few handseals.

Naruto took off at full speed, shocking the Iwa chunin. He used the Uzumaki style of attack and retreat and secretly, while attacking Ichikawa with a lightning charged tanto he placed some of the lightning seals on his opponent's body. Ichikawa defended against Naruto's tanto attacks, but didn't notice the real danger he was in. Earth armour had one major disadvantage for the user. He was desensitised against soft contact. It was due to the armour being able to take major physical damage without injuring the user. But for a seal master like Naruto it was prefect. Once he had placed the seals all over the body he jumped back to get a little more distance.

"See, even with your lightning chakra in the tanto you are not my league." Ichikawa taunted.

"No, you are not my league. Good bye. Activate." Naruto said and made a single handseal.

The lightning storage seals unloaded all at the same time and fried his opponent's system completely. Naruto inspected that his opponent was really dead and then sealed him into a scroll quickly before he ran over to Kakashi's fight.

* * *

Kakashi had no real problems going up against the two Iwa jonin. None of them had a problematic bloodline limit and he could counter the earth jutsus of Tomoharu without problem. His sharingan was showing him what his opponents were planning and so far he had landed some good blows at Mikiko and one on Tomoharu.

"Hey, sensei, I'm done with my opponent and here to help you." He heard Naruto's voice.

"Already? That was fast." Kakashi commented. "For Haku you needed longer."

"Well, Haku had an ice bloodline limit and we were fighting on top of a lake, he had the advantage there." Naruto stated.

"Wait, you beat Ichikawa in not even three minutes? Impossible." Mikiko shouted.

"What can I say? I'm good." Naruto said cheerily.

"Mikiko, take the boy, I'll take Kakashi. Your insects should be more suited to against him than against Kakashi with his fire jutsus frying your bees." Tomoharu ordered.

"Make sure you kill Kakashi." Mikiko said frowning.

"I will." Tomoharu said.

"Then let's see how you fare against a jonin, little boy." She said and unleashed a cloud of bees.

Naruto went through handseals.

"Water release: water bullets." Naruto exclaimed and shot five quick water bullets from his mouth at his opponent. He got perhaps a third of the bees that were headed his way out of the way, the others while getting wet were able to continue the fight. Mikiko had completely dodged the bullets.

"You will have to come up with more than a few water bullets." Mikiko taunted.

"I did." Naruto said and went through new handseals. "Lightning release: lightning torrent."

From Naruto's hands streams of lightning spread out, using the water all over the area as a conductor for the jutsu. The bees that had survived the original attack now were fried and died.

"Now that the annoying bees are out of the way we can start the real fight." Naruto said and ran at Mikiko and started attacking her with his modified Tides' fist style.

Soon Naruto was sure that like many Aburames in Konoha, Mikiko had neglected to have a strong taijutsu. Sure, she could use it, but she had relied on her insect based jutsus to keep the opponent on a distance too much. And contrary to the Aburame bugs, the bees couldn't just suck up the chakra in their opponents. They attacked by stinging and poisoning them. Naruto disabled her muscles and in the end he landed a fatal hit to her chest, hitting her lung with a chakra strike.

* * *

Kakashi was now giving Tomoharu massive problems. Before Mikiko and her bees had forced him to divide his attention between two opponents, now he only had to watch out for one. Kakashi was the superior fighter. That was completely obvious. While Tomoharu kept his distance, he had problems as he had to avoid looking into the sharingan. And Kakashi was a lightning element primary, so his earth jutsus were not as effective as they were against other opponents. Kakashi led Tomoharu away from the bridge. The main intention of facing off against the Iwa nins had been to prevent damage to the bridge. Though Kakashi was surprised how easy the fight was. He had thought Tomoharu would be stronger. Kakashi was faster than Tomoharu and had the elemental advantage. Tomoharu was physically stronger, but nothing compared to Gai.

They exchanged jutsus and after five minutes Kakashi knew enough to do a final attack to take out his opponent. He jumped away to prepare.

"Already exhausted, Kakashi?" Tomoharu mocked.

"You say something?" Kakashi asked playing bored.

"Those childish tricks don't work on me, Kakashi. I've been a ninja when you were still in diapers." Tomoharu replied.

Tomoharu went through handseals and Kakashi copied him immediately. Both ended at the same time.

"Earth release: Stone pillars." They called out.

Around both men big pillars of stone appeared. It was exactly what Kakashi had wanted, a chance to hide undetected. He quickly made two shadow clones, equipped one with a chakra seal and let the other jump up to draw attention to himself. He himself meanwhile used a camouflage jutsu he had copied in the third war from Iwa nins. His clone with the seal went underground. His first clone was found quickly and involved Tomoharu in a fight with fast ninjutsus and some taijutsu. Meanwhile the clone underground went in position under Tomoharu. Kakashi himself was by the side, watching and preparing to deliver the last strike with his new raikiri variant if necessary.

Tomoharu first took out the not empowered shadow clone and then the clone from the earth broke out under him and delivered a massive strike with raikiri. Tomoharu just managed to get away, but was hit all over the chest with a cut from the slash the clone had made.

"Shit." Tomoharu said through gritted teeth.

"You should just have returned to Iwa and not tried to get in the way of my team's mission." Kakashi commented.

"I wouldn't have let the chance to kill **his** student pass by when you were here and handicapped with protecting a genin team. Who would have thought that one of them was at least high chunin?" Tomoharu commented.

"Your bad that you didn't get all the relevant information." Kakashi's clone said coldly.

"Well, I know I've lost, but in the end I will at least fulfil my duty to Iwa. I will take you with me into death!" He shouted and then formed one handseal that activated a seal array on his body and he jumped at Kakashi's clone. The kamikaze attack only took two seconds and the clone exploded together with Tomoharu's body.

The real Kakashi stepped out of his hiding place and walked up to the now dead Iwa jonin. Naruto joined him.

"A bit fanatic, wasn't he?" Naruto asked.

"A bit. Too much of a grudge against sensei. He should have known that he wasn't strong enough to take me on his own when I had no problems against both him and Mikiko. He also should have known that I know about the suicide arrays of Iwa from the last war." Kakashi answered.

"He definitely should have. Hm, it looks like the sealing array didn't work the way it should have done. There is a lot of his body left to be analysed by our forensic." Naruto said.

"My clone sabotaged it a bit. As I said, I know that trick. When you push a shitload of chakra into the array the explosion isn't as strong as it should be. Your Dad came up with the idea to save more of our ninjas. If you are faced with the choice of giving up chakra and perhaps save your life or dying for sure, you will choose the chakra. While we still lost thirty per cent of those that were confronted with that trick, we could save the rest with injuries and most could return to duty after being healed at the hospital. Tsunade Sama developed a treatment that worked faster than the normal method until then. The time you had to stay at the hospital was reduced from four weeks to one and a half." Kakashi told Naruto. "Now let's see how Sasuke and Sakura have fared."

"I'll just leave some clones here to discourage any thugs that might get the same idea as the Iwa nins. Meanwhile I will create some seals to make the bridge withstand ninja attacks in the future." Naruto said and made ten shadow clones.

"Good thinking. Let's go." Kakashi said and both ran towards the position where Naruto felt Sasuke and Sakura being.

* * *

Sasuke had to admit, killing wasn't as easy as he had thought it to be. So far he had killed twenty of the thugs, Sakura had downed ten. It wasn't that defeating them was hard; it was ridiculously easy to be honest. No normal thug stood a chance against a well-trained genin. And he and Sakura were really well-trained by now. All of Kakashi sensei's training from hell had had impressive effects. He had improved massively since his time at the academy. And he could take out the thugs with little effort. But the psychological effect was still hard on him. No wonder Naruto had had problems to deal with it after the mission last night that he and Kakashi sensei had done. Naruto and his clones had taken out about seven hundred thugs.

He had cleared one part of the village from the thugs and was working his way over to the next part. He wondered how Naruto and Kakashi were faring on the bridge. But so far nothing indicating that the Iwa nins had had success with destroying it had happened. Just then another group of seven thugs noticed him and started to attack. Really, why did they always use the same not working strategy? He took aim and killed three immediately with hits to their jugular veins. It was the easiest point to hit and these thugs were not smart enough or fast enough to protect that point on their bodies. He saw two more falling to Sakura's kunais. The remaining two he swiftly killed after a short exchange of blows by cutting their jugular veins. It had been like this from the beginning.

So far the thugs hadn't got the idea to take villagers hostage or this would have been so much harder. And from his estimation they should be done with the thugs in the village soon. Gato should have fifty or so at the base, cleaning up while forty kept the village oppressed. Ten were unaccounted for, most probably off to investigate the situation at the camp. Well, at least this part of the mission he was doing gave him experience. He knew he couldn't take on a jonin yet. He would probably be able to defeat a normal chunin that didn't have a bloodline limit. During the fight his sharingan had finally activated. He could predict the movements of the thugs easily and had no problem evading their attacks. He had turned off his sharingan after the first ten minutes though, noticing that it was quite a drain on his reserves and he really didn't need them against normal thugs. He would have to train using the eyes properly later.

"Sasuke, the last ones are running away to the east. Do you want to pursue them?" Sakura shouted from the roof.

"No, let them run. We have done our job for now. Sensei wanted that we kept it to the village." Sasuke answered.

"Okay." Sakura answered.

* * *

At Tazuna's house the team met and informed Tazuna that they had taken out nearly all the opposition that Gato could come up with.

"The Iwa nins are dead. They underestimated Naruto and me greatly. The bridge didn't take any damage, we managed to either take them out quickly or take the fights a short distance away. Sasuke, Sakura, how many did you get in the village?" Kakashi asked.

"I have twenty five, Sakura twelve. Three got away and we didn't pursue them." Sasuke said.

"Good work. How are you holding up?" Kakashi asked.

"I didn't think that it would be this hard. I knew it would be hard but not the extent of the feelings it would cause. I think killing the thugs while they were no challenge for me was what disturbed me the most." Sasuke admitted.

"While we fought I didn't really think about it and only concentrated on the job. But right now it's all coming back and really hard." Sakura said, being pale as a sheet.

Kakashi gave both Sasuke and Sakura the same talk he had given Naruto before .He knew it was too early for a mission like this, but they didn't have a choice. The part Sasuke and Sakura had done today would normally have been a high class C-rank mission or a low class B-rank, depending on the strength of the thugs. The intention of this mission had been a low class C-rank to get his team used to normal threats. So far both Sasuke and Sakura had performed admirably, even if Sakura still had her fangirl moments. Perhaps this experience would bring home what ninja life was really like and that being a fangirl had no place there.

"What are we going to do with Gato, Kakashi sensei?" Naruto asked.

"We need to kill him. He can't be allowed to escape and restart his criminal activities somewhere else. But I want to get his money to give the people of Wave back what he stole from them and to fill Konoha's coffers. We also could take over some of his business and use it for information gathering. I know some people that are specialized in that area." Kakashi said.

Naruto was pretty sure he meant ROOT.

"When do you want to do that? He will try to either get more ninjas here quickly or has some thugs somewhere else waiting for his command. This probably isn't the first country he built his empire in. Wave Country was just unlucky to be perfectly suited for Gato's plans. It's isolated and not very large, doesn't have its own military and people are mostly fishermen." Naruto commented.

"You're right. Are you up to go back to the base in an hour?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, sensei." Naruto answered.

"Good, then make sure your equipment is ready, we will take off in one hour. Sasuke, Sakura, keep an eye open, but I want you to stay within the seals where you are safe. In case backup from Konoha comes, inform them about the situation. I guess I overestimated the problems we would have with the number of thugs. I honestly didn't expect us to get rid of most of them in one night and take out the missing nins like we did. Especially not those known to work with Zabuza." Kakashi said.

The genin nodded and took places around the house to rest up.

* * *

Taking out Gato and the rest of his thugs wasn't hard for Naruto and Kakashi. Following Kakashi's advice to get some practice with the sword of his great-grandfather, Naruto used it to take out the thugs at the base while Kakashi cut them down with a white chakra sabre. Once they had got rid of the first wave Naruto looked at Kakashi questioningly.

"I thought that sabre broke years ago." He said.

"I had it repaired years ago, but I didn't really want to use it considering when it broke. I also relied too much on Obito's eye. While it is a great tool, I have more abilities than the sharingan. And it's high time I get all of them back." Kakashi said.

"Sure thing, sensei." Naruto said smiling under his mask.

After taking out the last thugs, Kakashi and Naruto entered Gato's office, seeing the business tycoon shake in his shoes.

"Please spare me; I will give you everything you want. I have money; you can have as much as you want." He begged.

"You have nothing with which you could bribe us to spare you. You sent the Iwa ninjas to kill us, trying to get rid of Tazuna's protection. That backfired. Tomoharu and his team are dead. Iwa will not be happy about that. Letting you live would be a liability and you are not to be trusted, therefore your verdict is death." Kakashi said.

"You can't do that." Gato yelled.

"Like you couldn't kill Kaiza? Leaving his wife a widow and his stepson without a father? Like you couldn't suppress the people of Wave Country, forcing them to live in poverty?" Naruto asked.

"What?" Gato asked looking in those cold blue eyes. Only once he had ever seen those eyes in his life and they had scared him to the core.

"No, that can't be, he didn't have a son." He exclaimed refusing to believe what he saw.

"He did." Kakashi said and dealt the killing blow to Gato, separating his head from his body in one swift move.

"Seal everything that might be of worth for Konoha. I want all the documents you can find. I will take care of that safe." Kakashi said and went to break the safe.

"Understood sensei. But how did Gato know about Dad? I mean I currently hide my features." Naruto asked.

"Your eyes. While they have the shape of your mother, when you are dead serious you have the same look as your father. Especially as you have exactly the same eye-colour. He could freeze weak people just with a look. He didn't even need to strengthen it with killing intent. Those knowing that he was way stronger than them either ran away if they could or gave up before the fight even started. There was a reason for his bingo book entry." Kakashi explained and then got the safe open.

"I never heard about that." Naruto admitted.

"It wasn't that well-known, the other villages didn't want to admit that some of their troops were so weak that they would give up if your Dad only looked at them. That wasn't good for business. And only those that saw it happen could tell about it." Kakashi explained and started taking out money and documents from the safe.

"Okay, that makes sense." Naruto said.

It took them two hours to seal everything in Gato's suite and office. The guy had been involved in a lot more dirty deals than they had assumed. Konoha's intelligence division would love what they had found.

* * *

The next day Tazuna suddenly had a lot more helpers to build his bridge than before. The news that the Konoha team had killed all of Gato's thugs and Gato himself spread around like wildfire. Naruto took to harvesting the fields that Gato had kept under his control and sent clones all over the island to distribute food to the people. The fishermen that couldn't help with the building of the bridge were out on the sea, catching fish for the people. The children were playing carefree for the first time in years. Naruto also had a group of clones prepare a buck load of seals that would protect the bridge against damage. In the night before the bridge was officially opened he placed his seals all over the bridge. Wave Country would become a strong ally of Konoha after this mission. And while the country didn't have any resources like ore or valuable minerals, they now had a well-going farming industry, thanks to the fields Gato had kept for him and his minions, and the fishermen would also soon make profit again. In two years or so the country would be back to its feet and now was indebted to Konoha, but especially to team seven.

The money Naruto and Kakashi had given back to the country which they had confiscated from Gato would also help a long way. Kakashi had informed Tazuna that he didn't need to pay Konoha for the increased difficulty of the mission, they had taken it from Gato, which Tazuna thanked Kakashi massively for. Inari had come out of his depressive mood and was now determined to be as brave as team seven, especially Naruto, and face his problems and not run away anymore. Seeing how four people, three of them just being twelve years old, had managed to free their country had made a huge impression. Sure, Naruto and Kakashi had killed hundreds of men in their sleep, but those men had been murderers, rapists and torturers. There was no reason to grant them mercy as they wouldn't have done it either.

One week after the liberation of Wave Country the bridge was finished and a big party was held all over the island. Finally they had hope again. Kakashi also arranged with the Wave Daimyo that Konoha would place some birds there which could be used to send a message in case Wave Country needed help again. The confidence of the people was still shaky. It would take a while for them to get back on their feet. The backup team from Konoha had consisted of three grumpy chunin that had been very reluctant to have to assist the team of the demon brat and had taken their time getting to Wave and only arrived two days after the battles were over.

Kakashi had dressed them down massively. If they had gone full speed, like they should have done by their orders, they would have arrived the same day the battles had been. Kakashi promised them that their less than satisfactory behaviour would have consequences. Even he at his worst had never been two days late. If his comrades were in danger he was the first to go full speed. There was a massive difference to be late for a D-rank mission and an A-rank. Kakashi knew that those three were dogs of the civilian council and had a civilian background themselves, but even Sakura was disgusted with how they had slacked in their duty to help their comrades. And her mother was on the civilian council. Kakashi had put the three to repair work in the village, the closest he could come to a D-rank mission currently. The three would stay at the village for now until a new team would take over the long-term work here.

Kakashi didn't want them to prepare something before he could return and inform the Hokage about everything. And here they couldn't do much damage until he got some better suited ninjas here. He guessed with the Hokage and Danzo now cooperating he could have a team of ROOT here by the day after tomorrow if Danzo wasn't already preparing it. You never knew with the old war hawk.

Now team seven was ready to leave and especially Inari was sad to see Naruto go. He had taken to call Naruto his big brother, which Naruto had accepted while wondering why Inari had chosen him to take that role. It was also a completely new experience for Naruto to be openly admired by people. The people knew he had played a major role in getting rid of the thugs that had been Gato's army. They knew he had fought against the Iwa nins that had threatened their bridge and killed two of them. He was a hero. Though Sasuke and Sakura also got much praise. Their fight against the thugs in the village was talked about a lot too and the people were very grateful to them.

"Thanks a lot for your super help. Thanks to all of you our country is free again and we can get back to living without fear." Tazuna said when team seven was about to go.

"You're welcome. If you ever need help again, don't hesitate to call Konoha. But next time please tell us the truth from the beginning." Kakashi said.

Tazuna laughed heartily.

"I will do that Kakashi. Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, thank you very much for your help, especially you Naruto. I have noticed how much it cost you to do what you did. That you took so much upon you to help a country that wasn't your own will never be forgotten by us. As you are an Uzumaki we also have something that was found in the things our Daimyo had in his palace. He wanted me to give it to you before you go." Tazuna said and handed Naruto a big scroll that had the Uzumaki crest on the side.

Naruto took it from Tazuna, inspected it and got huge eyes.

"That is, oh my god, thank you so much, Tazuna. I didn't think I would ever see it." Naruto said excitedly.

"What is that Naruto?" Sakura asked curiously.

She had been much nicer to Naruto after having to kill for herself and knowing what it meant.

"It is a scroll my clan made. I recognize the type of seals used. If I am right it not only contains much of my family scrolls, but also the clan's summoning contract." Naruto said. "I only ever read scrolls where the author wrote that with the destruction of Uzushio all the scrolls about clan jutsus of the Uzushio clans and the summoning contract of the Uzumaki clan were destroyed before the backup from Konoha could reach Uzu. To now find out that it was brought to safety here in Wave Country is incredible." Naruto said honestly overwhelmed.

Even Sasuke couldn't begrudge Naruto his feelings. He would react similarly if he suddenly got something left from his clan. And Naruto didn't have anything as far as he knew. He at least had what was saved in the compound after Itachi had killed the clan. For Naruto this would be an invaluable treasure. And keeping on good terms with Naruto would help him in the end. Naruto would be jonin in under a year; that much was sure. The only thing he really missed to the rank was experience and even as a green ninja he had excelled at this unexpected A-rank mission. The performance of team seven would lead to them getting more higher-ranked missions from now on. And to be honest, it was reassuring that they had two jonins on the team. He had seen how fast things could change. A lie from the client and suddenly a C-rank turned into an A-rank. He wouldn't have been able to take out Zabuza Momochi or could have faced Haku on even terms. He couldn't have killed hundreds of men in their sleep like Naruto had done to free the country.

He still had a long way to go, he knew that now, but he had also seen how far he had already come. His sharingan had activated on the mission and Kakashi had sat him down and explained to him the lure of the eye. He had never heard about that from his clan. They had always said the sharingan was the ultimate bloodline limit and that it made it their right to demand respect. Kakashi had informed Sasuke that many Uchihas had been dependent on their eyes. He had only known three exceptions to that, Shisui, Itachi and his mother Mikoto Uchiha. Though their eyes were powerful, they were strong without them too. Shisui had been famous for his use of the body flicker in a fight. He had driven his opponents mad while they were trying to land a hit on him. Itachi could cast genjutsu with just a finger and didn't need eye contact with his victim. And his mother had been able to replace herself with the smallest things. A leaf had been enough. Not to mention her mastery over fire jutsus. Sasuke was deeply impressed hearing those stories. He swore he wouldn't become dependent on the eyes. If Itachi was that strong without them, he needed to get there as well.

When he got back to the present he saw Naruto hugging Inari with the scroll he got secured on his back. Team seven then took off to make their way back to Konoha in a good time. None of them heard the decision to name the Bridge the Great Naruto Bridge and to install a plaque to honour the great service team seven had done for Wave Country.

* * *

**Okay, that was a long chapter. Hope you liked it. Till next time.**


	21. Return to Konoha

**Hi, here is chaper 21, it's more or less a filler chapter but otherwise the aftermath of the Wave Arc is hard to do. So sorry, it is a bit shorter than normally. **

**Happy reading.**

* * *

**Returning to Konoha**

Back in Konoha team seven was debriefed by the Hokage this time. The mission was too high ranked to just give a short report to a chunin in the mission office and hand in a written report. Though Kakashi would still have to hand in the report, together with his students as they all had done parts of the mission that were at least B-ranked. Kakashi gave the first report, then Naruto filled in the part of the assassination of the camp and the base where he had been doing the killings and in the end Sasuke and Sakura reported on their part in the village of taking out the thugs.

Then Kakashi reported about the behaviour of the three chunins that had been sent to be back-up for his team which made the Hokage frown. He hadn't thought that chunin would go against his orders like that. Even if the team they had to support had Naruto in it. They would face disciplinary measures. There was no way he would tolerate that kind of behaviour from his subordinates.

The last thing Kakashi informed the Hokage about was the amount of money and the documents he and Naruto had confiscated from Gato. He also handed over the three prisoner scrolls that held Haku, Sanae and Kimie.

"In these three prisoner scrolls are three ninjas of jonin level that Naruto and I caught. I think the T & I department of the ANBU should interrogate them for information. If they are willing we might want to consider for them to join our ranks. Haku isn't in the bingo book, Sanae and Kimie are. All three have a bloodline limit. Haku has ice release, Sanae has steel release and Kimie has poison touch. Haku is in stasis and has injuries that would need to be treated and the other two have just been drugged." Kakashi informed the Hokage.

"That's indeed fortunate for the village. If we can convince them to join our ranks we would have three powerful ninjas to support us. I will also make sure that the bounties for the Iwa ninjas and Aoi will be transferred to your and Naruto's accounts. Sasuke and Sakura, you will receive the equivalent of the payment for an A-rank mission and a recommendation for performance above your level for your files. Additionally you are forbidden to talk about the details of this mission with anybody that doesn't have the clearance for A-rank missions, meaning the jonin and ANBU. This mission could have given Konoha a lot of problems if it hadn't gone like it did. There is information that could harm the village if it gets into the wrong hands." The Hokage said.

Both genin nodded.

"This is about the Iwa nins and how they reacted to finding out that Naruto is an Uzumaki, isn't it?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes. Not many people know this today anymore, but the Uzumaki clan was once our strongest ally. And Naruto is well on his way to regain the knowledge of his clan. In some way you can compare the importance of Naruto not being exposed too soon with yourself Sasuke. The Uchiha and the Uzumaki were very close in skill level and strength in the past. It was as much thanks to Uzushio's support that we won the second ninja war as it was to our own ninja's strength." The Hokage said.

Sasuke nodded and looked at the four pictures of the Hokage's on the wall. He noticed a certain similarity between the fourth and Naruto. He filed that information away for later consideration.

"I need to talk with Kakashi and Naruto about some things in private, so you are dismissed, Sasuke and Sakura. You have the next three days off then you will restart your training." The Hokage informed them.

They both bowed and left the office.

* * *

When they were outside Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"What do you think they are talking about that we can't hear?" She asked.

"I guess it is about the Iwa nins. There is more going on than they are telling us. One piece of advice, Sakura; don't get on Naruto's bad side. You have just heard what the Hokage said about his importance. We have both seen how strong he is and as much as I hate to admit it, at the moment he is stronger than me. I will catch up to him as soon as I can, but I also have realized that Naruto and I are more similar than I thought. You will regret it if you don't treat him properly." Sasuke said and left.

Sakura was wondering why he had told her that. It was also one of the longest talks she had had with him. But he was right. Naruto was strong. This mission and what she had had to do had really opened her eyes to her chosen profession. And she knew she needed to find a way to do more for her team. She had learned a lot over the two months she had been a genin now and she had massively improved. Seeing how horrible things had been for Wave Country and how the skills especially Kakashi and Naruto had had helped freeing a whole country from a despot had set her views straight. Things weren't as her mother had told her. The world outside was dark and if nobody did something against it, things would stay that way.

But how could she do more for her team? What skills did they need most that weren't covered by the other three? Kakashi and Naruto were extremely strong and skilled; Sasuke was also a good fighter. They had been extremely lucky as Kakashi had pointed out in the debriefing that their stronger opponents had either totally underestimated their strength or that they had surprised them in their sleep by their quick actions. Otherwise her team would have had to take serious injuries. She stopped in her thoughts. Perhaps that could be an area for her to help. Neither Kakashi nor Naruto nor Sasuke had any medical jutsus. She knew there were techniques medic nins learned and being skilled enough to treat the more common wounds in the field would be very useful for her team. She would have to talk to Kakashi sensei what he thought about it.

* * *

In the Hokage's office meanwhile Kakashi and Naruto discussed with the Hokage what steps needed to be taken next. The ANBU had left again on orders of the Hokage to give the group privacy. As that was quite normal by now, they didn't wonder.

"We just avoided more suspicion regarding you, Naruto. I also think Sasuke suspects something with how he looked at the pictures of the Hokages." Kakashi said.

"Yes, I noticed that. But for now he only has suspicions. I also think he has come to realize that he isn't as alone in his situation as he thought he was. He finding out about how the Uzumaki clan died has put things into perspective for him." Naruto replied.

"I think it has. But we need to make sure nobody finds out too soon. We can be pretty sure Iwa won't know how their ninjas disappeared for a while. And they can't do anything openly as we didn't attack and the whole of Wave Country is backing us up. The neighbouring countries of Wave will soon find out about what Konoha did for Wave Country and it will give us very good publicity. I think we won't be able to prevent the news that we have an Uzumaki in Konoha from spreading. Especially not considering that the bridge is covered with your seals. But as long as nobody knows more, it will be easy to keep going like we are until the chunin exams in four months. Wave is small and I don't expect the news to spread fast into the regions we don't want them to go for now." Kakashi said.

"Yes, I think you are right, but just in case I will send Jiraiya a message to keep an ear open for that happening. What I wanted to inform you about is that thanks to the new seals our ninjas are using out in the field now, there are rumours about us having a new seal master in Konoha. Though nobody knows more about it. I will do nothing to distract the information in the village, but all the chunin and jonin are informed to not speak about the source of them outside their ranks. They only know about your alias Dark Phoenix anyway." The Hokage addressed Naruto. "We have very good results from the teams we had on missions that used your seals. They praised the variety of new seals they got and described the ways they managed to use them. I'm very satisfied with how much they improved the success rate for our missions."

"Thank you, grandpa Hokage." Naruto said smiling.

"You earned it, Naruto. Next, you said you got sensei's sword back from Aoi Rokusho when you killed him?" The Hokage asked.

"Yes. I didn't mess around in that fight at all. I used the Flying Thundergod jutsu and Rasengan to quickly kill him. The sword is a family heirloom and it angered me that somebody like him had it." Naruto said.

"That's good to know. I will keep that part out of the official report. Try to not openly use the sword in Konoha before the chunin exams. I don't want more paperwork that is so unnecessary." The Hokage requested.

"I will do so. I want the sword to be a surprise in the exams." Naruto agreed.

"Good, Naruto, you are dismissed, take the next three days off and relax." The Hokage said.

Naruto bowed and left the office.

"How is your opinion of their development, Kakashi?" The Hokage asked.

"I'm very happy with how the mission helped them all to develop. Sasuke seems to have realized that not everything is always about him; Sakura has been given a reality check when she saw the misery of the people of Wave Country and Naruto finally got some recognition for his achievements. His team-mates also know now that he is jonin level and have taken a different approach to him; Sasuke especially. I think he has realized that he was too short-sighted in his goal to kill Itachi. Seeing how strong Naruto got gave him an idea how much stronger he needs to get before he can face Itachi. I also sat him down after his sharingan awoke and told him just what danger depending on the eyes poses to him. I think he understood. I will keep an eye on him. He is on a good way now, but I will need more time to be completely sure about his psyche.

"I will see how Sakura now behaves in training. She was the one most influenced by the situation in Wave Country. To have seen the misery and see just what we could do to change it and why we were able to do so had a huge impact on her. If we are lucky this mission was enough to finally break her fangirl mentality. I don't expect her to give up her feelings for Sasuke, but perhaps she will put them on hold to first get stronger. Her training definitely showed when she and Sasuke were tasked to take out the thugs in the city. Having her first kills has shaken her, but she got over it and I think she could then appreciate just how much the assassination mission during the night had cost Naruto, who had to deal with about seven hundred kills during that night.

"I wish there would have been a way to not have Naruto do that part of the mission, but there was no other way as I can't produce that many shadow clones and transform them into mice or squirrels to not stand out. He dealt with the guilt as it was to be expected from a rookie. He was sick to his stomach that night and solemn over the next few days. He understood why it was necessary and didn't let it influence his performance during the rest of the mission. I talked to all my genin about their first kills and I think they dealt well enough with the fact. I think continuing our training routine with the occasional C-rank missions will work perfectly for the time being. I want to keep my team as isolated as possible for the next month to give them time to get used to the new situation. So if you have a C-rank that will take us out of the village for some time that would be great. I can train them during the mission in some physical exercises; they train with the resistance seals the whole time anyway even if we don't do training explicitly." Kakashi said.

"Yes, I can see the need for that. We have indeed a C-rank that I can hold back for your team to take in four days. How is your own training coming along?" The Hokage asked.

"Very well, Hokage Sama. I have finished my work to get more variations of my raikiri for two of them. I have some more ideas to expand my jutsu repertoire with lightning based jutsus and have mastered a hundred of my copied jutsus that before were only kept to a normal knowledge level. I will see to it that over the next two months I get to three hundred jutsus on mastery level. Physically I am back at the level where I was during my ANBU days. I will have to talk to Naruto for a method to seal off the use of my sharingan. If I was able to use the eye consciously like Sasuke can with his eyes, it would save chakra for me. Perhaps with a seal I could get the same effect. I have come to the conclusion there is very little Naruto can't do with seals if he puts his mind to it. In that way he is very much like his father." Kakashi commented.

"That he is. Continue your work there, Kakashi. I intend to spread the news that I intend to retire again in two months. I won't give your name, but many will suspect it. I will only tell the jonin and ANBU just before the chunin exams. These exams will be the stage for you to present your team. You know that the ability to train strong ninjas is somewhat a requirement for a Hokage." The Hokage mentioned.

"Yes, I do and I don't fear anything with how my team is developing right now." Kakashi stated confidently.

"Good, then you are also dismissed for the next three days. Just hand in your report when you report back for duty." The Hokage said and Kakashi bowed and left the office.

* * *

Sakura listened to the rants of her mother annoyed. What did she think she was doing criticising how her team had done the mission, well, the little she had been able to tell her which was that they had freed Wave Country from Gato and that the mission had been more dangerous than formerly expected thanks to wrong information. How she wanted to shout at her that the civilian born ninjas that had been their back-up could have caused their deaths because they had not gone full speed to back team seven up. How she wanted to tell her to stop talking badly about Naruto. That he had sacrificed so much to make sure their team wouldn't have to fight hundreds of thugs.

Really, her mother made it sound as if only Sasuke had done all the work. No, she had also fought and she had killed. She fully understood now why Kakashi sensei had trained them so harshly from the beginning. Being a ninja wasn't a game, it was deathly serious. Having to realise that because they got bad information they could all have died drove home the warnings better than Kakashi sensei's lectures could have ever done. Their team was extremely lucky that they had such a strong sensei like Kakashi. They were lucky that Naruto was already jonin level and only lacked experience; otherwise they would have been overwhelmed.

Sure, Sasuke was good, even much better than he had been at the academy but that wasn't due to his sharingan. It was due to having worked really hard every day since they became team seven. It was strength that had been won in hundreds of hours of hard work. Hours she had suffered through but she could now fully appreciate having been forced to do so. Had she been like she was at the academy she didn't doubt that she would have been severely injured or even killed. In any case she would have been a burden to her team. No, her mother's ideas were really wrong and she would ignore her wishes in the future. She was a kunoichi of Konoha and she was proud what she had achieved so far already. She would find a way to better support her team in the future playing to her strengths. She had looked up famous kunoichis in Konoha and the most famous one was definitely Tsunade of the Sannin. If she had managed to become super strong as a medic nin, why shouldn't Sakura manage to do the same? She had perfect chakra control, it was one thing Kakashi sensei had praised her for from the beginning, the one thing she had lacked was chakra reserves but they were increasing every day.

* * *

Sasuke was reading through some scrolls he had inherited from his clan. He had remembered that his mother had once mentioned that many of the Uchiha ninjas that learned new jutsus by copying them with their sharingan had written down the handsigns and the way you needed to mould your chakra for the jutsu. His father had scoffed and declared most of those jutsus inferior to the jutsus that the Uchiha clan had invented themselves which were mostly fire jutsus. Now Sasuke fully intended to round up his jutsu repertoire with those inferior jutsus. What use was a flashy fire jutsu when stealth was the only choice you had? Why should he waste loads of chakra on small fry? Just to make it look impressive? That thinking could get you killed he had learned.

He knew that he couldn't have sneaked into the base or the camp like Naruto had done. He would have had to use powerful jutsus to kill the thugs and that would have depleted his reserves quickly. He might have been able to kill one or two hundred with luck but more wouldn't have worked. So he needed jutsus that worked with less chakra but were really effective. Stealth was something he had only learned the basics of. But why not learn a camouflage jutsu that had been copied in the third war from Iwa ninjas? Why not learn the hypnosis part of his eyes? Genjutsu also allowed you to surprise your opponent and strike unexpected. There were lots of ways to improve his abilities and as the mission had shown perfectly not always were the big guns the best ones.

He also had to think about Naruto probably being related to the Fourth Hokage. The picture was too similar to Naruto's looks to be a complete coincidence. From Naruto's age and what he knew about the blond's birthdate he had been born when the Fourth had died. And for some reason the adults hated Naruto massively and called him names like monster and demon brat. The only demon he could think of was the Kyubi. Was Naruto used as a scapegoat for the attack of the fox because he had been born on the day it attacked? He could understand that if Naruto was the son or nephew of the Fourth the Third would have kept Naruto's identity a secret as children of powerful clans and families were always targets for kidnapping or assassination. Without parents to protect him this action might have been the only way to prevent Naruto's death. Even if it came at the cost of not telling Naruto about his heritage.

He knew that Kakashi sensei had been the student of the Fourth so he being responsible to teach the last remaining family of the late Hokage would make sense. Kakashi would feel obliged to teach his sensei's family. And Naruto was strong at a young age. Stronger than all others in their age group. He would take a wait and see approach from now on. He was on a good way to achieve his goals; he only needed to be patient. Kakashi was teaching all of them equally and they were getting stronger fast. He felt it in the team competitions against the other teams. And the late arrival of the chunin team that had been sent to back them up had also shown that the civilian council couldn't be trusted. If they had made sure that the support came too late just because they hoped that Naruto would die without the backup they were traitors. It was as simple as that. And if Sasuke hated one thing it was a traitor. Itachi had seen to that.

* * *

**Okay, hope you liked it. I wanted to show the mental development caused by the mission on especially Sasuke and Sakura. Till next time.**


	22. Progress

**And the next chapter is up, happy reading.**

* * *

**Progress**

It had been two months since the mission to Wave Country and by now rumours were spreading slowly around in the neighbouring countries of Wave. Many traders had gone to the newly freed country and seen the impressive bridge. Tazuna loved praising team seven, especially Naruto. So the story about the new sealing specialist, Naruto Uzumaki, spread around the elemental nations. By now the Raikage and the newly appointed Mizukage had heard about the young Uzumaki. But there was nothing they could really do and the Mizukage honestly had others things to concern herself with. She had to rebuild her village after the years of bloodline purges of the former Mizukage. Their military was in a desolate state and she would need years to get it back to the level that they could rightfully state they were one of the five major villages. But the isolation of Kirigakure now showed advantages.

She was sad that Zabuza had been killed by Kakashi Hatake. If she could have managed to convince him to return, he would have made a strong ally. And he had had five strong minions, three of them with a bloodline limit if her information was correct. Such a waste of resources. The reports stated that Konoha had arrested four of the minions; one of the demon brothers had been killed in a fight with Kakashi's team, and had collected the bounties for a lot of ninjas. Three Iwa ninjas, one Ame ninja and Zabuza and Meizu. That was not to her liking, but there was nothing she could do. She had given out a general amnesty for those who had committed crimes against Yagura's regime. Otherwise many of her most trusted supporters would have to be persecuted. But that meant the ones in Konoha custody were out of her reach. She could only offer them to return, but with how they had interfered in a mission of Konoha, the Hokage would decide what would happen to them.

And just this morning a messenger had brought the news that the Hokage planned to retire again. This time for good. She pondered who would be his successor. There were some strong ninjas in Konoha's ranks. The most probable choice would probably be Jiraiya of the Sannin, though Kakashi Hatake had been quite active with his team the past few months as well. The man was reclassified as S-rank now.

* * *

The Raikage was frowning over the report of his spies. Konoha was planning something big. The old Sandaime Hokage was retiring again and a new Hokage would be announced for the chunin exams. Then there were the stories about a new seal master and an Uzumaki in the village. What was his first name? Ah, Naruto. He only had found out about the boy a week ago when a caravan of traders had come to Kumo. They had told stories about his great deeds in Wave Country two months ago. Obviously the boy had been a key factor in liberating the country from the business tycoon Gato. Now the former Gato Company was run by Konoha. Of course they had righted the wrongs that Gato had committed and were loved for it by the people that had been suppressed by Gato. And the worst part was that he couldn't do anything about it. The change in leadership had been legally performed with all the necessary documents and contracts. Kakashi had done good work there.

Additionally Kakashi was the jonin sensei of the team that was doing many missions that normally chunin teams would get. He knew about two other C-ranks that had been important. Who knew how many others that team had done? It had taken a bit of investigation, but he had their names. Sasuke Uchiha, last survivor of Konoha's most infamous clan, but the boy was not like most of his relatives. Kakashi seemed to have managed to get the arrogance toned down and had trained the boy to not be dependent on his eyes. He was dangerous to anybody below high chunin level from the reports.

Sakura Haruno, while of civilian background was said to be a promising medic nin with a knack for genjutsu. With only four months of being a genin the girl was able to treat most common injuries of her team. Additionally she was a high level genin kunoichi which definitely was due to Kakashi's training.

Last Naruto Uzumaki. The boy that no spy got a proper picture of. It was as if he didn't want to get known by his looks too early on. Just why would that be? All those older than thirty five knew about the former Uzumaki clan and its specialization in seals. From what his own seal experts that had investigated in Wave Country and had returned yesterday had found out, he was a high level seals expert. The seals on the bridge were really impressive. Additionally he had killed at least Ichikawa Sansetsu. It wasn't known if Mikiko Kamizuri had died by Naruto's or Kakashi's hands. The one thing he wondered about was how Konoha had managed to hide the boy for this long.

* * *

The Hokage sat in the newest meeting of the village council and looked at the members of the council amused. Four months of intensive house cleaning had definitely borne fruit. He didn't have to deal with as many useless tasks anymore, the merchants that evaded taxes or thought up taxes by their own estimation had been forced to pay heavy fines, the academy was on a good way to teach the students properly again and the civilian part of the council was reduced to deal with civilian affairs and couldn't meddle with ninja affairs any longer.

"Hokage Sama, is it true that you intend to retire after the chunin exams?" A civilian councillor asked calculating.

"Yes, it is true. I have done enough in my life and I want to finally enjoy my time in retirement. I have found a good successor and will present him shortly before the chunin exams." The Hokage stated.

"Why aren't you telling us now?" Isami Haruno asked.

"I have my reasons. My successor needs to get some things done before he can take over and all the publicity would only hinder his current job. He expects to be finished by the time the exams come along." The Hokage vaguely said.

With how he worded it, nobody who wasn't in the know, meaning, Danzo, Shikaku and Cat, the ANBU commander, would know if he meant Jiraiya or somebody else. Many would think he had chosen his student. Jiraiya was a sannin and well-known all around the elemental nations. And it was common knowledge that he ran an extensive spy-network that he probably needed to get transferred to a successor.

"As you mentioned the chunin exams, will the new teams participate in them?" Danzo asked, giving the Hokage a bridge to distract the civilian councillors from being too nosy.

"From the reports I saw from teams seven, eight and ten they should be ready by then. Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma are reporting a massive increase of the genins' abilities in the important areas of their training. We should be able to present a lot of members of our most important clans and families to the public once the finals come along. There are a lot of talented genin this year. Gai also informed me of his intention to let team nine participate this year." The Hokage answered.

"That's good to know, Hokage Sama." Hiashi said. He only hoped his daughter wouldn't embarrass the Hyuga clan.

"I have heard rumours about Naruto Uzumaki being an expert with seals." The representative for the Kurama clan spoke up. "Is that true?"

"It is. Naruto's level was confirmed by Jiraiya a few months ago when he was in the village. It's no real surprise he is talented in the art. He is an Uzumaki after all." The Hokage answered.

"But how did he get to that level? He was the dead last of his class." A civilian councillor asked annoyed.

"Secret self-study. It isn't really hard to get the materials to get started. The academy has the basic books for fuinjutsu in its collection, but most genin aren't interested in learning such a complex art when they start their career. They keep to nin-, gen- and taijutsu, perhaps a few weapon skills as well." Shikaku informed them. "But Naruto had to clean several rooms after a prank, so for him to find the books is very probable. He only needed to borrow a few and he could have studied without anybody noticing. It's not like fuinjutsu couldn't be used in pranks, which I guess would have been a massive motivation for him. Understandable with the treatment he got over years."

Many of the ninja council nodded. They knew how good Naruto was. He had really hidden all his abilities well. Many by now knew that his promotion was only a question of time until he had the necessary experience. And all the ninjas kept a close look at the bingo books. Naruto had an entry by now after news about his involvement in the fall of Gato, the death of Zabuza and the Iwa ninjas had got out. He was a C-ranked ninja in Kiri and B-ranked in Iwa's books. Probably because nobody really knew which opponents he had taken out and which ones were accounted to Kakashi. Only the Hokage really knew and he kept quiet. The three captured ex-Kiri nins were in the final phase of interrogation and so far it looked like them joining Konoha. It would be great to gain three new bloodline limits for the village. Though the civilian councillors didn't know that yet. They would stupidly try to force the three into a breeding program, which wasn't at all what the Hokage wanted. Not that they had that power anyway, but they too often fell back into their bad habits and he didn't want that Kakashi would have to bother with that kind of nonsense when he took over.

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were training with their sensei again. Since the revelation of Naruto's true level the other two had trained with much more enthusiasm. Naruto even acknowledged that Sakura wasn't useless anymore. She was a solid high genin level kunoichi on a good way to become a competent medic nin. Since their return from Wave Country she had used all her free time to study medical jutsus, read up on medicine-making, antidotes and poisons. She knew the anatomy book backwards and forwards and spent two mornings each week when Naruto and Sasuke worked on ninjutsu at the hospital learning from other medic nins how to perform the jutsus for battlefield healing. Kakashi still kept his team on the rigorous physical training program, but Sasuke and Sakura now had control over their seals all the time.

Today a sparring session with teams eight and ten was planned. A team battle simulation. At the moment team seven was leading by two points on team eight with team ten following by three points. While you couldn't really call team seven a real team, they were a properly working unit, a fact that Kakashi was really happy about. When it counted they could perform flawless teamwork, something that made missions a lot easier.

The sparring session would be in one hour, so they now ended their training to eat something before the session. They weren't informed how the exercise would go, they never knew beforehand to not give any team an advantage. Naruto knew that the whole team competition was a way to give him more bonds inside the village as the Hokage feared that he would run away otherwise. He had to agree that the strategy was a sound one, even if he had wished that the others his age were closer to his level. But they would need time. Naruto had planned how to turn the opinion of Konoha about him around for years. He knew the civilians would only stop tormenting him once they found out his heritage. It didn't matter to him, they weren't important. They could rot in hell as far as he was concerned; a few exceptions were to be noted like the Ichirakus and the Takashimas. His menu had been expanded a bit as the Takashimas happily sold him products from their new farm for fair prices. So now he could regularly get eggs, fresh milk, vegetables that normally were cultivated in Water Country and sometimes cheese from them as he had no problems giving them his money contrary to other civilian shop keepers. He was always welcome at the farm.

The ninjas were now respecting him as a comrade and that was what was important. They counted as he needed to be able to trust them in case he took missions with them in the future, which would happen. He would only be a genin for at most two months now that the chunin exams were approaching. All of Konoha was gossiping about the information that the Sandaime Hokage had chosen a new successor. Most thought it would be Jiraiya, but Naruto knew that it was Kakashi. And Kakashi was the better choice for Hokage. He was young, their best jonin in the village and most importantly, he hadn't left the village for long periods of time. While Jiraiya had maintained his spy-network, which was important for the village, he wasn't that well-known from his constant presence, contrary to Kakashi who was now connected with a few new very impressive missions like the liberation of Wave Country which now was an ally of Konoha.

Then there was the mission to Takigakure where team seven had helped Shibuki, the leader of Taki, to end an attempt of a group of rogues to take over the village. It had started as an escort mission, a low B-rank to be precise, but then the team had been tasked with cleaning the river of waste and had stayed there for a little longer. Things had then developed from there and ended with the take-over attempt. It had been a really short attempt. The attackers, even if they knew their way around Taki perfectly and tried to get Shibuki to lead them to the hero-water, a powerful substance with high drawbacks, hadn't counted on how high the level of team seven was. Sakura had taken care of anybody who had been injured by the rebels, Sasuke and Naruto had taken out the minions of the leader who had been faced by Kakashi. The whole take-over attempt had been dealt with within fifteen minutes, much to the shock of Shibuki. The man had thankfully been smart enough to realize that close ties to a village that had shinobis of that level ranked as genin, fresh out of the academy genin at that, would be very smart and had signed a new treaty as soon as he could.

The next mission had been escorting a diplomat to Bird Country only to prevent the assassination of the daimyo and returning the princess who had been sent to another country as a hostage. Naruto could only shake his head at that kind of political backstabbing. A child should grow up loved and with its family in his opinion and he didn't hide said opinion at all. Maybe he was harsh, but damn if he let people think that any child deserved to suffer like that. The princess seemed to wholeheartedly agree with him.

Some other missions that hadn't been as spectacular had also happened, but they had improved the impression that team seven had all around Konoha.

Now they finished their lunch and walked over to the training ground where the team battles would happen. As they had enough time they decided to simply walk and not use the body flicker that they had learned by now.

* * *

Teams eight and ten were already at the designated training ground. They exchanged greetings and then listened to what their senseis had to tell them.

"Alright, as you know today is a team battle simulation. This means we will set up a mock mission which will include fighting for a common mission goal. Each team will get an area that they will have to defend. Inside that area is an item in a set location that contains secret information. The items can't be removed from their spots. The other two teams will try to steal the item from the other teams to get the information. Put together the three pieces of information will give you the code to open a safe in which your true mission goal is held. You have to bring the content of the safe to us once you have got it. The safe is kept in the middle of the areas. You have half an hour to come up with a strategy, find your own item and decide how to go about the overall mission. Until you get the signal to start you aren't allowed in the other two teams' areas. Good luck." Kurenai informed them.

Each team then took a map with their area and ran there. Team seven reached their area and Naruto quickly made a dozen shadow clones to search for the item.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Sakura asked.

"We first need information where the other two teams will have their item once we get ours. It's unfortunate that we can't move the item whatever it is. It's easier to defend while moving around." Sasuke replied.

"Oh, we probably can still do that. We just need to set up a good decoy to our item and just take the information out of it if possible. Next to that I will see if I can open the safe without the correct code. Nobody said that we had to have the code." Naruto said.

"That makes sense. We have to explore the mission parameters to the fullest without breaking the rules." Sakura realized. "I can set a genjutsu around the real item to keep it hidden. On top of that I suggest setting up fake hiding places with genjutsus to confuse the other two teams. If they notice only one genjutsu they would know it is the hiding place. With multiple options they can't be sure."

"Good idea. But we will better hide the real place by normal means and use all the genjutsu ones as decoys. That way even if one of the other teams manages to get too close to our hiding place they won't be able to quickly find the information which will give us a time advantage." Sasuke said.

"Good, I will send transformed shadow clones into the other teams' areas as soon as we get the starting signal. That way we can find out their strategies and their hiding places. Once we know which locations we need to target we will leave our item under the protection we discussed. Perhaps it is even possible to take the information out of the item or destroy it after we read it. On top of the genjutsus we will trap the area around each real and fake hiding place thoroughly. We don't have a time limit for this test, so we can use it. If we stop the other two teams from getting information, we can win this." Naruto added and got nods from his teammates.

Then one of Naruto's shadow clones dispelled telling him that he had found the item.

"Alright. Let's go." Naruto said and jumped into a tree, Sasuke and Sakura closely behind him.

* * *

They all heard the signal that the mission was on and for a while nobody noticed anything. But those that had a possibility to sneak into the other's territory undetected were doing so now. That meant Shino sent his bugs out, Naruto his disguised shadow clones and Ino possessed a mouse to go spying while Shikamaru and Choji kept her body safe. It turned out that Shino and Naruto had the best turnout of possible hiding places for the information as they had greater numbers of spies at their command. But, contrary to team seven, team eight hadn't come up with as many decoys for their item.

Sasuke, who after Naruto's clones had informed the real one where the possible locations for the item were, had sneaked into the territory of team eight, managed to easily look through the genjutsu placed on the two places he found with his sharingan and he easily memorized the information inside the item. Naruto and Sakura were meanwhile distracting team eight until he could go back to them. Of course using a shadow clone under transformation to look like him.

The guards for the item, Kiba with Akamaru, had been easily dispatched with some of Naruto's sleeping poison senbons that he had given to Sasuke. They would be out for ten minutes or so. Sasuke used simple stealth to get into the territory of team eight as using jutsus would have triggered Hinata's Byakugan or Shino's bugs. While normally Naruto was the better stealth user, with genin as the opponents Sasuke could easily hold his own. Especially after all the additional stealth training he had done to catch up somewhat to Naruto. And considering that Shino could spread his bugs far to take out Naruto's normal clone strategy it made sense to let them think that Naruto was trying to get their information while Sasuke did the deed.

In team ten's area things were a bit easier as none of them was a sensor type or a tracking type. Naruto's clone slipped past Shikamaru and Choji in the thick underbrush and went to their hiding place. Ino was still out from using her jutsu. The clone noticed several traps around the item. Well, nothing a mouse couldn't get through and they only needed the information. They didn't need to steal it. So the clone opened the item after several failed tries and memorized the information. Then it closed the item again and dispelled. Normally team ten shouldn't even notice anything wrong.

* * *

Sakura was fighting Hinata trying to keep her from getting too far into their territory to see the decoys. Now their decision to make it really difficult to find their real item paid off. And by now Sakura had a way to counter Hinata's gentle fist style with the medic nin style of fighting. She dodged whenever Hinata tried to land a hit and countered with her just recently learned chakra scalpels. She had seen what Naruto could do with his version of that technique and had therefore decided that it would be a good way to defend herself. A medic mustn't fall because if the medic fell, there was no one that could treat the team after a fight. So a major part of her medic training, coupled with the dodging exercises that Kakashi had them regularly do had made her a really hard to hit target. Not that that meant that Hinata was easy to beat. No, the formerly totally shy and insecure Hyuga girl had greatly improved since the academy. Sakura knew that if Hinata landed a good hit she would be in a world of trouble.

Meanwhile Naruto and Shino were fighting to get the upper hand. Naruto, knowing about the sense of smell that the bugs used to orientate themselves, had put up several traps where pheromones of female beetles were spread around. Therefore Shino had to override the instincts of his bugs, which cost him more concentration and chakra than normally. But he made up for that disadvantage with his chain-sickle. Since Naruto had told the others what he thought would be good to include in their fighting styles, they had worked on that. Shino had turned out to have a talent for the chain-sickle and used it with deadly accuracy. Hinata had learned many genjutsu from Kurenai and some ninjutsu from Kakashi when they had switched senseis for a week to profit from each jonin's specialty training. Kakashi was the specialist for ninjutsu, Kurenai for genjutsu and Asuma for weapons. Naruto was really happy that his comrades were getting stronger as he knew that there were serious threats outside, waiting to attack Konoha in the very near future. If they were stronger than they would be with only their team's sensei training them, he would fully support the way this was achieved.

Naruto had found out in the ROOT archives that a group of S-ranked missing nins, including Itachi Uchiha, was taking several high ranking missions for villages like Iwa and the smaller villages that couldn't afford to train high ranking ninjas or who simply didn't have the means to train talented ninjas up to that level. It was concerning that a group existed that was made of such strong ninjas. If they ever decided to work against the villages it could become a major problem.

Sasuke joined the fight as soon as he returned from his 'mission', which meant he took the place of the transformed shadow clone, and together they forced Shino and Hinata to retreat for now. Sasuke's short barely noticeable nod informed Naruto and Sakura that he had got the information from team eight and that they could now go on to open the safe.

* * *

It wasn't as easy as they had hoped. While it had been no problem to get team ten's information, Shikamaru had seemingly come up with a plan to foil any team that got the complete set of information before them. Naruto had a good counter for it though. Shikamaru was limited in the use of his shadow jutsu due to his chakra reserves. So Naruto let several of his clones be caught by the shadow while him, Sasuke and Sakura went to open the safe to get the prize and win the mission scenario. Sasuke supported the clones with distant attacks on team ten, forcing Choji to stay away. Ino didn't have much on the offensive part besides weapons, which Sakura made sure to deflect.

Naruto being the one with the most practice in opening safes quickly put together the code and opened the door. Inside was a set of scrolls with elemental symbols. One for each element. He took them out and then called out to his teammates to get to the jonins to finish the simulation. Now team eight was also there, trying to assist team ten in stopping team seven from winning. It was hard to fight three against six, but in the end team seven managed to save the scrolls to the meeting point.

"Very well done, team seven, you win this round." Asuma called out once team seven was in the safe zone.

The three showed different states of condition. Naruto looked as if he wasn't even breathing hard, which was easy to understand considering his stamina and skill. Sasuke was looking a bit worse for wear and was sending lightning chakra over his body to shake of the last persistent bugs that Shino had managed to put onto him. Sakura looked worst of the three, but she had the least cuts or bruises.

Finally the other two teams arrived. Kiba glared at Sasuke, a mark on his neck showed that he had been hit with a senbon before, on top of having some cuts and bruises. Hinata's jacket was a bit singed and Shino's showed cuts. Ino was breathing hard, Shikamaru looked exhausted and Choji had a bruise on his cheek.

"This test was so unfair. Naruto could make more shadow clones than any of us were able to counter." Ino complained.

"We should have put that into consideration and worked together against team seven from the start. If we had taken out Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura together we could have fought out who got the scrolls between us. It would have been the only way to get a chance to win this." Shikamaru analysed.

"You are correct. Having Naruto on team seven was an unfair advantage the team had." Kakashi confirmed calmly. "But this setup was so that you could try to work around it. You won't always have the advantage of being up against opponents that are roughly your own level. It can happen that missing nins join bandits or start bandit groups themselves. Especially after the bloodline purges that Kiri started there are some former chunin or the rare jonin that could become your opponent on a mission. The trick to work around that is finding a weakness or overwhelming said strong opponent somehow."

The genin nodded. By now they all knew that Naruto was jonin level. He didn't lord it over them though and gave helpful suggestions how they could improve their skills themselves. It was slow going, but with the subpar training that the academy had given them over the years compared to real shinobi training, they were doing really well.

"Now we have planned one last scenario before we let you enter the chunin exams in about two months." Kurenai said, causing them all to pay close attention to her. "This will be an exercise that will put all members of your teams against Naruto."

Naruto looked up surprised.

"Naruto, you will be given something to keep safe from them. You can use all your skills. The intention of this setup is simulating that a spy stole important information from the village. They will have to work together to catch you and retrieve the information. In the scenario you are forbidden to use more than five clones at the same time to make it more realistic, because no normal spy could ever match your chakra reserves." Kurenai explained.

"How long do they have to find and catch me and how long do I have to prepare for my part?" Naruto asked with his mission mode voice.

"You get one week to prepare your part, Naruto. The test will start next Saturday. They get five days to catch you. The Hokage has been informed about this, so we don't have to fear any interference from outside parties." Asuma explained.

"Alright. Which area can I use?" Naruto asked.

"The whole village, the outside training grounds and the forest around the village in a five kilometre diameter. You are limited to non-lethal means though." Kakashi answered and Naruto got a mean grin on his face that let Sasuke and Sakura gulp. They knew that grin. It promised pain and embarrassment.

* * *

**That's it for today, till next time.**


	23. Wake Up Call or All Against Naruto

**Okay, here is Naruto's 'permitted prank' on the rest of the rookie nine. Hope you enjoy it.**

* * *

**Wake Up Call or All Against Naruto**

The rest of the week nobody saw Naruto at all. He had been excused from his team's training to prepare for the test. While nobody had said so, it was also meant to judge Naruto's progress. The Hokage wanted to know how far Naruto had come in the four months under Kakashi's tutelage. The secret plan was to back the council into as many corners as possible. While the promotion to chunin was completely in the hand of the Hokage and the judges, many of them neutral parties that would never favour one ninja over the other, other things were not. And the council could try to regain some power in the phase of Kakashi starting as Hokage. Not that it would work, but distracting them with Naruto's spectacular performance would be a good way to smooth things over. Naruto would also be announced as the son of the Yondaime Hokage in the finals.

It would have two main effects. It would let Konoha look more impressive to potential customers, but also call Minato's enemies upon the boy. So Naruto needed to show that he was ready to shoulder those two things. For the rest of the rookie teams it would be a show of how much better Naruto was. They needed to strive to get to the same or close to the level Naruto was at now. And if they saw Naruto as a role model they would easier follow him in the future. And if they followed him and trusted him as their leader, the Hokage hoped, it would bind Naruto closer to the village. There was no hope for Naruto to ever more than tolerate the majority of the civilians. They had done too much to him, but as long as the major clans were united around him, he wouldn't leave.

Finally it was Saturday and the eight remaining rookies were assembled at training ground eight with their senseis.

"Good morning. As you can see, Naruto isn't here because he has already started the simulation. This morning he broke into the set location for the information you need to retrieve. Your mission objective is to find as much information on Naruto as you can, track him down and get the information back. But be warned, it sounds easier than it will be. You have one hundred and twenty hours, exactly five days from now on to fulfil your mission. We won't help you at all as we know Naruto's plan in rough. If you manage to get the information back, come to one of the meeting points." Kakashi said and handed them a piece of paper with information. "This is all the information that could be collected about the theft so far. Good luck."

The jonin used the body flicker to leave.

"Troublesome." Shikamaru commented while looking at the piece of paper. "Well, let's see the information and develop a strategy."

"Wait a moment; we need to make sure that nobody eavesdrops on us. There could be a transformed shadow clone of Naruto around. It's one of his favourite methods to gather information. He could also have placed seals around that let him listen into conversations." Sasuke spoke up.

"True, if he knew our strategy, he could easily counter it." Shino agreed and sent his bugs out. After some minutes one came back. "There are no clones in a perimeter of a kilometre. But there were some seals that I don't know what they do."

"We better not test them. Knowing Naruto that could include something really nasty or just a prank." Sakura said. "And none of us knows enough about seals to determine what they do on time."

The others nodded.

"So first we need to find a place where we won't be overheard. I guess there would only be one place where we could get a room that we could fool proof. The academy." Shikamaru said.

"Why the academy, Shikamaru?" Ino wanted to know.

"Because Naruto wouldn't be able to foresee which room we would use and with the constant sound level there overhearing a conversation is hard. He would have to place listening devices in every room to make sure he finds out our strategy." Shikamaru answered.

"Okay, that makes sense, let's go." Kiba said.

They took off towards the academy.

* * *

Naruto sat in his hideout, listening to the conversations the others held. If only they knew. Shikamaru was right that he would resort to seals to listen in on their plans, just he didn't think about all the places where he could have placed the seals. It was really easy. Last week he had smuggled fleas into the Inuzuka compound which infected all their nin dogs. As a result all the dogs now wore flea collars until they got rid of all the fleas. And in Akamaru's collar there was a listening seal. Too small to be found and nobody would suspect a flea collar to be used to listen into conversations. It wouldn't have made sense to try and foresee the location where the others would plan. They could have gone everywhere. But by having one of the others unknowingly send him the information he was getting around that part easily. In this case the teamwork and whole group meetings would work against them. On top of that nobody would notice Akamaru's new collar easily because besides Kiba nobody came close to the dog normally. And only Shikamaru would think about it. That was once he noticed that Naruto seemed to be a few steps ahead of them all the time.

* * *

The group arrived at the academy and took an unused classroom to discuss their strategy.

"Alright, team eight, you are the best trackers among us, how would you suggest we start?" Shikamaru asked.

"I can send out my bugs to try and find a trail. But I suspect that they will need a long time to find him as he knows about their capabilities and is well-versed in distraction techniques. I suspect that he would have taken measures to conceal his scent, so our best bet is Hinata's Byakugan to find him." Shino summed up.

"Naruto likes to be unpredictable. You can never predict what kind of move he will pull, the only constant in our training matches was always that he would show no mercy and end a fight when he had the chance to do so. He works efficiently." Sasuke informed the others.

"On top of that he knows the village and the forest around it better than anybody." Sakura added. "Naruto can vanish without a trace as far as I can tell in a split second. On top of that he is very skilled with traps of all kinds. Keeping an eye on the shops will also do us no good because he doesn't need to go there for anything. We also have to consider his ability to turn a shadow clone into basically everything."

"Yes, but this wouldn't be a test for us if he didn't leave some traces to enable us to at least try to finish this mission successfully. So he must have got instructions to give us a little chance. We will split up. Hinata, Shino and Sakura will go to the place where he stole the information from and collect any clues we can use. Kiba and Sasuke will scout inside the village for anything that could point us to Naruto. Ino and Choji will scout the forest and I will go through all of the information we were given by our senseis. From the information Kakashi sensei gave us on the mission parameters Naruto will attempt to get the information out of the village within the allotted time so we need to take that into consideration as well and watch the exits of the village. Probably placing some of Shino's bugs there to keep watch would be our best chance for now. We will meet here again in two hours with the first results." Shikamaru said and the others nodded.

* * *

The group soon found out that finding Naruto was really difficult. From the few clues that were left at the site of the theft they didn't get much. But they didn't really expect much. Sakura made photos of the site to show the others in case they overlooked something important. Shino let his bugs try and find any scent or chakra traces of Naruto next to placing some strategically to guard the exits of the village. But as Shino had already expected there were none. And the security cameras didn't show a thing about the theft. That feat was quickly solved though as Hinata found a device with a tape that had a four hour sequence of the undisturbed room. As long as nobody set off the alarms nobody would find out in time that anything was stolen.

Kiba and Sasuke had split up to scout inside the village. They tried to find out if anybody had seen Naruto, but nobody had done so and from the reactions of the civilians they were glad about it. Sasuke massively wondered about that behaviour. As he hadn't done many missions inside the village for civilians he hadn't realized that Naruto was that disliked. No wonder that Naruto hated the civilians. He would too if he was treated like this. Probably he would have already set them on fire or something like that. He didn't have much patience for idiots. But this made finding Naruto that much harder. Nobody cared to notice him even if he had been somewhere.

* * *

The Hokage looked at the report he had got from one of his teams concerned. This was a serious problem. While they had by now taken care of the old Uchiha draining seals all over the village, a group of Hyugas had noticed other seals all over the village that looked much older even. He had them take care of the seals, but if anybody had managed to basically turn the village into a waiting time bomb it was cause for immediate action. The security measures of the village couldn't be that good if this had been overlooked for so long with a whole clan of Byakugan users around. He decided to call Kakashi in. As his successor he should be involved in trying to solve the problem.

Kakashi appeared ten minutes after the Hokage sent out the call. The Hokage activated the privacy seals around the office and sent the ANBU out.

"You wanted to see me Hokage Sama?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, Kakashi. We have a problem at our hands that I hadn't seen before. As you know I had members of the Hyuga clan disable the seals that originated from the old Uchiha district. During that task they found other, older seals spread over the village, explosive seals." The Sandaime said, giving Kakashi a serious look immediately.

"That's bad. How could that many seals be overlooked? That shouldn't be possible." Kakashi said.

"I don't know yet, but it is a major reason for concern. I don't like the thought that people could invade Konoha by using such a trap. From examining the seals many must have been decades old. That isn't assuring me in the village security and counter-espionage departments. The worst part is we even found masses of those seals inside the Hokage Monument. The shelters for our civilians in case of emergencies are there." The Hokage said.

"I see. We really need to come up with new security measures to prevent something like that from happening. I don't want to imagine what could happen if we were target of an invasion with that kind of security problem in our backs." Kakashi said. "Especially as we know from Jiraiya Sama's reports that both that Akatsuki organisation and Orochimaru are up to something."

"Indeed. That's why I called you here. As my successor you should be involved in setting up new security protocols. The chunin exams are in one and a half months and it will be the time we will announce you as the Godaime Hokage, Naruto's heritage and show all those that come to watch the finals just how strong our next generation is. We can't let anything happen then. I want the chunin exams to be the last highlight in my career as Hokage." The Sandaime said.

Kakashi nodded.

"Should I call Naruto in? He is the one with the best idea of the weaknesses in our defences from his pranks." Kakashi asked.

"Excellent idea, Kakashi. But isn't he doing a test with the rookies on their tracking and capture skills?" The Hokage asked.

"He is, but I have a way to contact him if necessary. He could send us a shadow clone and work as Dark Phoenix. It makes sense since including new seals into the defences of the village would make them stronger and more unpredictable. We have to consider that we have S-rank missing ninjas out there that know a lot about our methods to protect the village after all." Kakashi said.

"Alright, call him." The Hokage agreed.

* * *

It took an hour for Naruto in his Dark Phoenix attire to appear at the Hokage's office.

"You called for me, Hokage Sama?" Naruto asked after landing in the office.

"Yes, you are getting as bad as Jiraiya, always coming through the window. We need your expertise in sealing and the weaknesses of the village's defences, Dark Phoenix." The Hokage said.

"Okay, what's the reason that this came up?" Naruto asked intrigued.

Kakashi briefed Naruto on the found explosive seals and their thoughts on the overall village security.

"I see. Well, first we need to change the frequency of the protective barrier around the village. Both Orochimaru and Itachi are still registered as Konoha ninjas at least for the barrier. It wouldn't notify us if they went through it. I suggest letting Jiraiya write those seals as he has more experience which areas need to be covered and how to write the chakra signatures that are allowed inside into new seals. I would even suggest to not excluding anybody from being spotted; everybody should trigger a message to a surveillance team. Said team can check the chakra signatures against those of out ninjas. Perhaps we could make it so that the Hokage gets a special signal so that he and an escort can pass through unbothered.

"That way we know immediately if anybody enters that we don't want to enter the village. Let's say we make the barrier triple layered. First layer about ten kilometres outside of Konoha. It will be triggered by anybody nearing the village. Second layer will be five kilometres away from Konoha. Only our registered ninjas can pass through that layer. I suggest a seal to be carried by all ninjas on a mission that allows them the pass through that barrier unbothered. Everybody else would need to show documentation that allows them to pass through with one time passing seals. The setup isn't too difficult; several plants have one way membranes in their cells, copying the effect for a barrier is completely possible. The ninjas that went through before would have to identify themselves at the gates by a chakra identifying seal. That way nobody can slip through unnoticed even in case a Konoha team would be ambushed outside. On top I would suggest to make sure that the walls are strengthened by similar seals like the bridge in Wave Country. It would make any attempt to bring the walls down much harder for any intruder. Right now, say Orochimaru, would only need to summon some of his bigger snakes and let them crash the walls, creating a hole where attack troops could get through." Naruto listed his points.

"Before we can start that we need to eliminate all spies we have in the village." Kakashi spoke up. "We would waste our time if an enemy spy found out about the new measures and attacked when we took down the former barrier to replace it with a better one. The best strategic time to attack us would be the chunin exams as we would be forced to not only fight any attackers, but also protect our important guests. With all the guests coming in it would also be harder to detect known hostile elements."

"Leave the spy elimination to me and Danzo. We can deal with those we know and have an eye on easily. After all, that's what the ROOT is really good at." The Hokage said and got nods from the younger two.

"We also need to find a way to stop aerial attacks. Some ninjas have techniques that allow them to fly over natural obstacles and as long as they keep out of the range of the barrier we wouldn't notice them until too late." Kakashi mentioned.

"True. We need to keep a corps ready at all times to fight of aerial attackers. We would need either long-range specialists or find a way to let them fly themselves. Any seal ideas on that, Dark Phoenix?" The Hokage asked.

"Hm, it might be possible, let me sketch this up a moment. It is possible to use seals with clothes, my cloak that I have got for the chunin exams is proof that it works, but I use my wind manipulation for that and the cloth I had my cloak made of is really expensive and rare." Naruto mumbled, drawing calculations on a piece of paper. "The material used can't be too heavy, but needs to be chakra conductive. Still it needs to be sturdy enough to not be easily destroyed. Either nature manipulation or gravity manipulation might work. Nature would be harder as wind manipulation isn't that well-trained in Konoha. But what if it was a device?"

The two older men looked in awe as Naruto's pen sped over the paper, writing things, drawing diagrams, crossing things out and forming basics of a possible seal or device. All the while the blue eyes of the boy shone happily from the challenge. The hidden ANBU didn't really believe what they saw. That boy reminded them a lot of the late Yondaime when he was trying to work out how to get a seal to work while letting a shadow clone do his paperwork.

"Okay, I think I can get this done in about a week." Naruto finally announced. "I just need one of the guarded training grounds to test it once I have built a prototype."

"We can arrange that, Dark Phoenix." The Hokage said. "What other problems does our current security have?"

"That the ninjas got lazy over the time we had peace. I mean, Kakashi here is the prime example. While right now he is S-ranked, he fell to average A-rank from nearly S-rank after he left ANBU. He allowed his skills to deteriorate. While average A-rank is still impressive, if he had had to go up against a ninja like Itachi Uchiha, he would have got his ass handed to him. And he was one of the strongest in the village while being A-rank. It also is embarrassing how easily Naruto Uzumaki could do his pranks. Sure, he was hiding his real skills, but really, an academy student that was able to trick basically all the chunin of the village when he was eight years old? They should have been able to catch him sooner. Or later even the jonin once he turned ten and the chunin didn't stand a chance anymore?" Naruto pointed out the blatant incompetency of those tasked to catch him after one of his pranks.

"The only restriction they had was not using lethal methods and bringing him in mostly unharmed. That means they should have been able to catch him easily, if only by using basics like transformation or replacement. I mean, Iruka Umino managed to do just fine and he is an average chunin." Naruto didn't mention that Iruka was also a sensor and therefore able to find Naruto no matter where he hid until he figured out how to suppress his chakra. After that they had needed the jonin.

"Yes, I will that I address that problem in the next meeting." The Hokage nodded.

"On top of that you need to make it mandatory for all those with chunin rank and higher to regularly take courses to improve their knowledge. I have seen it myself. I was allowed to do as I liked in my training and I neglected getting stronger at a certain point. While genin have their jonin senseis to improve their skills, mostly ninjas from clans get better techniques after making chunin. Others may have some family techniques if the families have been shinobi for a while, but otherwise the development of our forces is restricted to the clans. And some keep their members for clan business and they are only reserves for the village." Kakashi said.

"I mean, we could for example implement Tsunade Sama's old idea of setting up a medic program. We still have too few competent medics out there. We have many with good chakra control in the academy. It just never really leads to anything. Why not address those that have the control necessary to become medics while the children are young? Training a good medic takes time and it would actually help if we could send some of those that failed the jonin sensei's tests, but had the control to the hospital for more training. They wouldn't become full ninjas directly, but a fully trained medic would gain the rank by passing their test." He suggested.

"That's actually a very good idea, Kakashi, one which is practical. The hardest part is finding ninjas that are willing to invest a lot of time in intensive study of anatomy and medicine. But if we take the graduates that fail the test for other reasons we could build up a good base." The Hokage acknowledged.

"Good, I will call Jiraiya back to work out the barrier seals while you get to produce a working way for building up aerial combat devices that won't hinder any ninjas that use them." The Hokage then turned to Kakashi. "Kakashi, write a draft of the idea for the program and include any other ideas on how to use the potential that is currently lost to the village from the failed graduates. Until the new curriculum shows effects with the next batch we should utilize what we already have. I want reports in three days, dismissed."

Both Naruto and Kakashi bowed and left the room this time through the door.

* * *

Shikamaru sat pondering the information they had collected on Naruto and the clues to the fake case they had been tasked to solve. They had now tried for three days to find Naruto, but had completely failed. The only positive report was that Shino's bugs hadn't noticed anything out of the norm so it was fairly safe to say that the information was still inside the village. It was as if Naruto always knew what they had planned before they did it. They had screened the whole academy classroom for listening seals, but they had come up negative. How did Naruto know what steps they were taking? How did he listen into their discussions? After the room had turned up clean he had the others check all their clothes and accessories in case of the girls, even their headbands had been checked and nothing had come up. They had checked for disguised shadow clones and nothing was there. This was getting frustrating.

They had all assembled to put together all information they had got. They needed to find out just how Naruto was always a step ahead of them.

"Alright, we know that Naruto is somehow eavesdropping into our conversations. We were all told about the fake mission one week before it started. As we have ruled out the location, our clothes and accessories as the base for him doing it, we must have overlooked something. We need to figure it out before planning something new. We only have two days left and if we don't find the leak we will only continue to be embarrassed by falling for his fake trails." Shikamaru declared.

Ino and Sakura could only nod. They had been victims of a paint bomb trap and still had orange hair, much to their displeasure. Sasuke and Shino had fallen into itching powder traps when they had searched the old Uchiha district, thinking that the abandoned parts of the village would make a good hiding place for Naruto. It had even effected Shino's bugs and that had made the normally stoic Aburame really annoyed. Kiba and Akamaru had been knocked out by a really bad stink bomb for half a day after they had thought that they had found a clue in a small alley. Their noses were still hurting and next to useless for them right now. Hinata had only barely avoided getting hit by a trap she set off. She didn't want to imagine the scolding she would have got from her father if she turned up with permanent wave like some of the civilians that had been caught by the smoke that had come from the seal she had overlooked until it was too late.

"What can we do?" Choji asked.

"We need to think of anything that happened during the week before the test mission that was unnormal. Anything out of the norm could have been Naruto's doing. Be it unusual visits of people at the library or somebody buying an unusual amount of supplies. We can assume that Naruto would have done that using a transformation jutsu." Shikamaru said.

"We checked the stores, but the only one buying more supplies were tasked by the Hokage and that is nothing new since Dark Phoenix started equipping the village armoury with seals." Sasuke said. "It would be hard to separate who could have been Naruto and who were Hokage Sama's people."

"True, so the stores could be a lead, but hard to find out, especially with only two days' time." Shikamaru admitted.

"I don't know about anything unnormal." Kiba said. "We only had another dog bring fleas into our kennels, so our dogs all got new flea collars. But that happens every few months and after a thorough cleaning everything goes back to normal. The collars are prepared by my clan's vets and are checked to be safe."

"Well, somebody bought all the shampoo supplies in the village two days before the test started." Hinata said, surprising the others. "Honestly, didn't you think that my clan with so many people with long hair would notice something like that?" She asked exasperated.

"Did anything come out of that, Hinata?" Shikamaru asked.

"No, the next day the stocks had been refilled." She answered.

"We have also by now checked all potential hiding places that are suited for setting up a kind of base, all places that are a bit isolated and even the complete forest area that is part of this scenario. He was nowhere." Shino stated.

"We are overlooking something. Just what could that be?" Shikamaru pondered.

"What if he uses an obvious place? He can't have used any of the places that are unreachable for us, but what if he thinks that we wouldn't look in an obvious place?" Sakura asked.

"We checked Ichirakus, the Hokage Monument, his apartment, the academy and all the training grounds." Shikamaru listed. "I don't know any others."

"And by now we should have found at least something." Shino said.

"Yeah, he can't sit in some hole for five days and not give any scent traces. He would at least need access to sanitary rooms. Otherwise tracking him would be a lot easier." Kiba added.

The pondered on the issue.

* * *

Naruto listened to what his comrades were thinking and got a good laugh out of it. One moment he thought that Shikamaru might get the right conclusion about the floo collars, but thankfully Kiba had told that it wasn't unnormal for it to happen. He had based his plan on that information. It could easily happen that a stray dog brought fleas to the Inuzuka compound or that a dog caught some on a mission that weren't noticed before the dogs returned to the clan compound with their partners. He had intentionally sent a squirrel with fleas into the compound and the dogs had chased it all around. That a stray with more fleas had turned up had been lucky on his part. Therefore the whole compound had been infested and needed to be cleaned. And sneaking inside after the collars had been checked to be handed out the next morning had been easy. One transformation into a mouse and Akamaru's collar got a listening seals in miniature version. He was really proud of that creation. The seal was only as big as his little finger's nail. It blended perfectly with the enzymes the Inuzukas used to get rid of the fleas.

If the others only knew how he fulfilled the part of regularly being in public. The mission parameters he had included that he had to be out of any hiding place he used for at least four hours a day. Well, he was out more than that. One of the Hokage's usual assistants had come down with the stomach flu and Naruto had taken over his place. So if the others didn't check with the hospital and cross-referenced the ninjas in every department with patients, they wouldn't find him. That was the one true big clue he left for them to find him. So far they hadn't thought of that. Well, they were rookies.

* * *

The time was up and the rookies hadn't managed to find Naruto. They were disappointed about that, but assembled at the meeting point. Their senseis were present. The group gave a sorry image. Naruto did strike massively one last time with a prank before the time was up. Now Choji and Ino resembled yellow chickens having feathers glued to them all over. The glue seemed to be resistant to any way of getting rid of it. Shikamaru sported a red afro, Shino's face was black with orange dots letting him look like a big bug, Kiba and Akamaru were scratching themselves, Hinata's normal clothes were exchanged with a tight pink spandex and Sasuke and Sakura had orange glitter all over them.

"Well, it doesn't seem like you were successful." Asuma commented.

"No, we weren't." Ino admitted grumbling. "Just how did he manage to hide that perfectly and target us with the pranks?"

"Well, Naruto will be here soon, so we will start discussing his strategy and your mistakes once he is here." Kurenai said.

She was a bit disappointed. Her team specialized in tracking. That they hadn't managed to find Naruto at all meant that they needed a lot more work. Asuma thought similarly. His team specialized in information gathering and should have found out more. Kakashi knew that Sasuke and Sakura while they knew more about Naruto than others didn't even scratch any real knowledge about him. They had never even bothered to learn more about their blond teammate. Well, the rookies would learn a lot this afternoon; that much was sure. Naruto appeared in the middle of the group with a cloud of smoke grinning massively, obviously enjoying the looks he got from his pranked comrades.

"Well, I guess I won this round." He commented chuckling about the grim and sometimes enraged looks on the others' faces.

"Alright, Naruto, do you want to do the debriefing here or in another place?" Kakashi asked.

They were in a classroom at the academy at the moment.

"No, here is perfect. Everybody sit down, take out your notebooks and pens and listen." He said seriously, turning to the group. "There were two major reasons you didn't even find a trace of me the past five days. First let me start with my mission parameters. I had to be out in public, meaning in a public building, the streets of Konoha or the forest for at least four hours every day. Second, I could only use five clones at the same time. Third, I was limited to non-lethal counter-measures to your attempts to find me, which the ones that were caught in my prank traps can attest to. Think what would have happened if I had been able to use lethal traps and you know one of your major problems. You didn't take all possible safety precautions you could." He could see Ino gulp thinking what might have been and some others were also looking pale.

"Next to that you disregarded preparation. You should have been on guard from the moment I got the get go. You could have watched out for anything that could have been part of my plans. I had much too easy a time to get everything set up. A ninja never plays fair but uses all ways he has to achieve his goal. So you trying to spy on my moves or setting up counter measures to something you knew would happen was stupid to the extreme." The three jonin nodded, confirming that statement. It would be a negative part of their reports.

"From what you were told when the mission started I was an enemy spy who had stolen important information from the village that couldn't be allowed to fall into enemy hands. You had been told that the Hokage had closed off all normal communication lines, so I needed to get out of the village myself. Normally that is. I got the information out the second day." Naruto said shocking the others. "It was fairly simple. I know all the genin teams in Konoha. I simply disguised four of my shadow clones as a genin team tasked to capture Tora. They got out of the village easily by simply complaining about having to catch the demon cat again. Boom, the information was out of the village. I deposited the scroll in a hollow tree three kilometres outside of the village. To make my cover believable, I had a transformation seal make a stone look like Tora and let them return.

"Nothing out of the norm, but highly effective. Next part was finding me. Well, I was always a step ahead of you, because I had the perfect spy in your middle." Naruto said, causing outcries. He chuckled. "I find it funny that Shikamaru didn't think of it. Kiba actually gave him the information he needed. I feared for a moment that he would realize how I listened into all of your conversations."

"Urgh, it's the floo collar." Shikamaru said. "Troublesome."

"Correct. On Akamaru's floo collar is a miniature seal that transferred everything you spoke about five meters around him to me, which was especially useful as the ones mostly tasked with tracking me were Shino, Hinata and Kiba. As fleas in the Inuzuka compound are a regular occurrence I could use the standard response of the clan to my advantage in this training mission. I simply sent a squirrel with fleas into the compound and only had to wait for the collars to be handed out. I know each clan compound from my pranks, so sneaking inside transformed as a small animal was easy." Naruto explained how he had placed the listening seal.

"From this you should learn to never discard any kind of information. The most regular thing can be a hint. For example I was one of the Hokage's assistants that bought ordered materials to get the things I needed for the mission. And my hiding spot was in the Hokage tower." Naruto told them.

"What? But how did you manage to do that unnoticed?" Ino cried out.

"I observed the assistants in the tower for a whole week. I did the same with the hospital and library personnel by the way. We always have somebody who is injured or sick. And I only needed to put a harmless drug into the food of one of the assistants in the tower and I had a position I could take over. Something you could have found out had you cross-referenced the patient lists of the hospital with the list of ninjas in the public places. You knew that I had to appear there for some hours, so it should have been one of the first things you did. While you sent Shino to the library and Hinata to the hospital, you forgot the Hokage tower. None of you looked there the whole five days. You can't exclude any place just because people there should notice an impostor.

"To be honest, the Hokage will get a report about how his assistants that normally work there didn't realize that I was an impostor. The only one that did was Danzo Shimura and he complimented me on my great disguise." Naruto said.

The three senseis didn't look happy hearing that news. If Naruto could get away for five days working at the tower there needed to be better training of intruder detection.

"Now, while I was restricted to five clones at every time of the day, that didn't restrict me as much as people might think it would. After all, while I slept my clones could still set up traps and lay false trails. That way you were kept busy." Naruto said.

"But where were you resting?" Shikamaru asked. "I can understand how you managed to blend in with the personnel at the Hokage Tower if you managed to impersonate one of the assistants perfectly. We would never have noticed if those that normally work there didn't. But you needed to sleep at least four hours each day to function."

"That's easy as well. You know about the resting rooms for those that are working shifts in the Hokage Tower and the hospital? I simply used one of them. I only needed to divide off a small area of the room by using standard disguise equipment like a wall-coloured cloth and a bit of wire to hide my resting place. I didn't need to worry about a bathroom as I could simply use the one at the Tower in my regular breaks. As for food, I had everything I needed sealed up in scrolls before I started this mission. After all, supplies for five days aren't hard to store. And if I really needed anything I didn't calculate for, I could send a transformed clone to a shop. There are so many ninjas or civilians that live in Konoha that no shop owner would have noticed anything." Naruto answered. "The important part of my techniques to stay hidden is that I didn't use anything besides basic academy knowledge." Naruto stated.

"But your seals clearly aren't academy knowledge." Kiba protested.

"Sealing scrolls are covered in third year of the academy and are available at every shinobi supplies shop." Naruto countered. "Listening devices can also be bought there if you are at least genin and are preparing for a mission. You only need to show the permission slip from the Hokage. For this mission I didn't draw one seal myself, I got them all from the shops. The listening seal I used is a new seal that the Hokage gave permission to use. Every single one of those seals is tracked by a special division of the village security teams. I used stealth, clones, transformations, scent erasing techniques, diversion tactics and everything I found useful in the academy curriculum. Well, the curriculum that was used in war times that is. I never learned the peacetime curriculum because I think that it is a waste of time."

Kakashi nodded, knowing what Naruto was talking about.

"Well, after Naruto now explained how he managed to win this scenario and how you failed the mission, let's go over how you go about a mission like this." Kakashi started and Naruto took a seat while Kakashi went to the front. "This scenario was set up that you only had a small chance to pass it."

The genins were outraged hearing this.

"Why would you set us up for a failure?" Kiba shouted.

"To prevent you from dying in the field." Kakashi said seriously, shutting them all up instantly. "Kurenai, Asuma and I noticed that some of you were getting overconfident in your new abilities combined with your clan abilities. Overconfidence is one of the major causes for fresh ninjas being killed on missions. Another is false information. Team seven has told you how our mission to Wave Country got upgraded from a C-rank to an A-rank. Normally we would have returned to Konoha after we found out that the client had lied about the mission parameters, but it wasn't an option because it would have given a crime lord a hold in a country that is close to Fire Country's borders. On top the people of Wave Country were in danger of starving or being killed by an oppressor. That is a kind of mission Konoha won't refuse to do."

He looked at each of the genin.

"Normally I would have waited for backup to arrive after the demon brothers of Kiri appeared, but as I knew that technically my team didn't consist of three green genin, but a technical jonin, a genin with low chunin level skills and a genin level kunoichi, I could justify continuing the mission. Had I done that with a real green team, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would probably have died when we encountered Zabuza Momochi. There are reasons why certain missions are given to certain ranks. You may complain about the D-rank missions, but they have their reason in training you to work together with your teammates, train your bodies and give the village an easy source of income.

"The type of fake mission you were confronted with the past five days was what normally would have been classed as a B-rank depending on how dangerous Naruto's role would have been classified. It could have been an A-rank. Normally only experienced chunin or jonin get that kind of mission. It is dangerous to try and rat out a spy. Even if Naruto intentionally gave a hint which disguise he had taken. What would you have done if your orders had been to infiltrate a village without leaving any traces, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"I would have spied through liberal use of shadow clones two weeks prior to infiltrating the village, checking out whom I could easily impersonate. I wouldn't choose a high ranking member of the village; I would use somebody who is an everyday character. Somebody who wouldn't be missed immediately. Normally I would have first captured said person, interrogated him or her for normal behaviour, quirks and the like, then I would have sealed him up in a prisoner scroll. I would have taken the person's place, let my clones collect information in the important areas of the village and after a while I would have left the village, letting a clone take my place for two days until I was a good distance away. After that I would let the clone free my prisoner whom I would have used a memory seal on and have my clone dispel." Naruto told his standard strategy.

"Very good, Naruto. How do you counter being detected?" Kakashi asked.

"Several ways. If I have the information, I use the hunter teams to get out of the village after making them believe I got away with important information. Hunters operate in teams of four, but normally split up at some point, which would be a perfect opportunity to get away for me. If I don't have the information, I set up a decoy and take another identity. My special form of transformation can't be detected even by sensor ninjas. I would speed up the information gathering process if possible, if not, I would use several decoy attacks to stretch the village troops away from the information I want. The village by that point already knows that a spy is somewhere, but finding said spy if you can't be sure how he looks is really hard." Naruto answered.

Kakashi nodded. The others were intrigued by how much Naruto seemed to know about that kind of mission.

"How do you know so much about infiltration missions, Naruto?" Hinata asked.

"How do you think I managed to do my pranks? I have years of experience in this field of expertise." Naruto answered. "You can't get away with as many pranks as I did if you don't have reliable information."

"But you were always caught." Choji said.

"For twenty per cent of everything I really did, Choji. I got away with eighty per cent of my pranks because there was no proof I did it. And not everything I did was flashy. Some things were more subtle. Certain streaks of 'bad luck' were caused by me." Naruto replied.

"And I would like to add that by the time he was ten we needed jonin to catch him after a prank that was flashy." Asuma mentioned. "We should have noticed it then."

"Nobody wanted to notice it, Asuma sensei." Naruto countered. "After all, I was the 'Dead Last'." He said punctuating the 'Dead Last' part.

The briefing changed the genins' outlook on their missions a lot.

* * *

**Okay, that was it for this time. Next up are the chunin exams.**


	24. Beginning of the Chunin Exams

**The long-awaited start of the chunin exams is up. I hope you like my version. Just to start, I kept the tasks but changed how the teams took them on. Happy reading.**

* * *

**Beginning of the Chunin Exams**

Finally it was time for the chunin exams to begin. The Sandaime Hokage had assembled all the jonins of the village to get the teams that would participate nominated.

"Well, we will start with the new genin. Technically each genin that has done a minimum of eight missions can be nominated, normally of course they would have done more." The Hokage said.

Kakashi, Kurenai and Asuma stepped forward, Kakashi looking smugger than usual. The Hokage knew that last night Kakashi had won the bet whose team would collect most points over the span of six months. It was only by two points, but he had won. Sakura had beaten Choji and surprisingly Shino in their last one-on-one spars, Sasuke beat Hinata and Shikamaru while Naruto took out Ino and Kiba. All the teams had developed exceptionally and he had no doubt that they would all be nominated. Kurenai was first.

"I, Kurenai Yuuhi, sensei of team eight, consisting of Shino Aburame, Kiba Inuzuka and Hinata Hyuga recommend these three under the name of Kurenai Yuuhi to take the chunin exams." She said making the confrontation sign.

Asuma followed.

"I, Asuma Sarutobi, sensei of team ten, consisting of Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi nominate these three under the name of Asuma Sarutobi to take the chunin exams." He said using the same sign.

Kakashi gave the Hokage a look and got a nod. It was time to reveal some secrets.

"I, Kakashi Hatake, sensei of team seven, consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Naruto Namikaze" A loud intake of breath from nearly all jonin was heard, but Kakashi ignored it, "nominate these three under the name Kakashi Hatake to take the chunin exams."

"What do you mean, Namikaze, he can't be Yondaime Sama's son!" One man called out enraged.

"I think I would know my sensei's only son, Giichi." Kakashi said coldly. "He is finally ready to take up his heritage. I have trained him to the best of my ability for the last six months to be ready as I know that Iwa and possibly Kumo might try to assassinate him once his identity is known. Why do you think no spy was capable of getting a good picture of Naruto for their bingo books after our Wave Country mission?"

That shocked the jonins. Only Asuma seemed relaxed.

"I should have made a bet; I would have won a lot of money." Asuma said chuckling.

"I figured you had figured it out by now. You were the one to test him after all." Kakashi said.

"I would be a lousy jonin if I hadn't noticed the similarities in the fighting styles." Asuma confirmed.

"This is all well, but we need to continue with the nominations." The Hokage said.

"Of course, Hokage Sama. I, Gai Maito, sensei of team nine, consisting of the youthful Rock Lee, Neji Hyuga and Tenten Jakonato nominate my three youthful students to take the jonin exams." Gai continued giving the nice guy pose at the end.

The senseis that wanted to nominate their teams followed one after the other, none of them as exuberant as Gai though.

"Good, then we have twenty nine teams taking the exams. I expect all of your students to represent Konoha worthwhile. Now on to the next topic. As you probably have heard by now, I will step down again after the chunin exams. As they will start in exactly seven days from now, I will tell you now who I have chosen as the Godaime Hokage." The Sandaime said.

This got the full attention of all jonin. They had waited a whole month since the news had broken through that the Professor wanted to retire again.

"The name has been kept a secret until now as my successor had an important task to fulfil which will end after the finals of the chunin exams. At least to the point where he needs to put his full attention into it. Kakashi, step forward." The Hokage called and Kakashi stood by the Hokage's side. "I have chosen Kakashi Hatake, student of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage, to become the Godaime Hokage. Until the finals this information is classified to be known only to the ANBU and jonin. As you have probably noticed, Kakashi has gained S-rank in every bingo book by now, which was something I told him to do before taking over the hat from me. His second objective was to train his team to a point where they can safely take up missions on their own after he took over as Hokage." The Hokage explained.

Many nodded, seeing the sense in the decision to wait with the announcement for those reasons.

"Over the next month I will let Kakashi take over more and more of my duties. As his team will be busy with the chunin exams there won't be a problem. For his students we have already ensured that they get the best teachers possible to prepare them if they manage to get through the first two parts of the exams, which if they perform like they did on their missions so far, shouldn't be a problem." The Hokage told the others.

"Hokage Sama, how strong are they if you are so sure that they will pass?" Aoba asked.

"Let me answer this please." Kakashi asked the Hokage.

"Of course, Kakashi." The Hokage said.

"Well, most of you should have heard of some of the missions my team has done so far. By now Sakura is a capable field medic and aspiring to become one of the best medic nins there are. She is a solid chunin level kunoichi, which I wouldn't have expected in the beginning because she was a horrible fangirl. Thankfully I managed to break her out of that phase. Sasuke is also a solid to high chunin level. He now has his superiority complex under control, which was a major issue in the beginning. I had to literally beat it out of him or let Naruto do it. Naruto is jonin level." Kakashi stated and was interrupted.

"Uhm, Kakashi, why didn't the boy try and graduate early with that level of strength? I mean, being jonin level with twelve shows some serious talent." Genma asked.

"Because the village sabotaged him too much. Naruto feared that if he wasn't clearly above genin level when he graduated, he would be failed on purpose and be placed under the mercy of the civilian council again. So he hid his true abilities to pass as the 'Dead Last' of his class to be put on Sasuke's team as he was sure that it would be the one team that wouldn't be allowed to fail." Kakashi answered. "I want you to be aware that Naruto holds little love for the village. I spent the last six months trying to give him bonds to the village so that if Hokage Sama one day dies of old age or other reasons, Naruto would still stay loyal to Konoha. If I had failed, we would have had an enemy at our hands worse than Itachi Uchiha."

This made many gasp. Itachi was legendary and to think Naruto was stronger than him was a major strike.

"As the future Hokage I expect all ninjas to treat Naruto as what he is, a comrade. Naruto isn't his prisoner and has never harmed anybody that hasn't harmed him. But make no mistakes; Naruto won't take any abuse from the village. He is willing to treat all ninjas neutrally at least and those that prove to him that they deserve it nicely. On top I hope I made it clear that I don't want Sasuke to fall back into old bad habits. Treat him like every other ninja. My students are all trained to respect their superiors, but they will question all orders that they think are stupid or will harm the village. They will be polite about it, but they won't simply accept any information as absolute. They will also interpret their orders to suit them best to fulfil their missions." Kakashi informed them.

He got nods from the other jonins. They had heard how hard he had trained with his team. He was giving Gai a run for his money as the hardest teacher in the physical aspect.

"Good, now that you have an idea what my successor has done the last months, everybody except Kakashi and the ones that are responsible for the chunin exams is dismissed. Remember that the information about what you heard here except for the nominated teams is confidential. In particular that means Kakashi being the Godaime and Naruto being the Yondaime's son." The Hokage said and most of the group left.

* * *

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura sat at training ground seven, reading a scroll each. Kakashi had told them to wait for him here and that he didn't know how long the meeting he had to go to would take. So they had brought a scroll on skills they wanted to train next each. Sakura was about to advance to the third level of her medical training and read up on the theoretical skills that she would need to learn the next practical skills. So far she had learned the mythical hand jutsu and how to set broken bones. On top of that she had leaned chakra scalpels. Next would be techniques to get rid of basic poisons and they were tricky, so she wanted to be absolutely sure with her knowledge to impress her teachers at the hospital.

Sasuke was reading up on lightning manipulation. He had mastered fire manipulation a month ago and had trained to perfect his fire jutsus till now. His repertoire of jutsus now held ten fire jutsus including fire clones, which had been hard to learn. But it wasn't a B-rank technique for nothing after all. Naruto read about combinations with his summons. Jiraiya had written a letter, telling him that he would take over his training for the month between the second and third rounds of the chunin exams and work with him on those combination attacks.

They had been reading for an hour now when Kakashi appeared with his normal body flicker.

"Sorry for the delay, but Hokage Sama had some important announcements to make and there were some explanations given to the jonin in the meeting." Kakashi said. "I see you used the time productive. I will be straight to the point; I have nominated you three for the chunin exams that will start in seven days at ten in the morning here in Konoha."

The three smiled hearing that. They had known that the exams were coming up and to be nominated this early was a sign that their sensei trusted them to be able to do well in them. Considering his high expectations for them every day he would never have let them take them if he wasn't convinced that they had a chance for promotion.

"Naruto, please set a privacy seal up." Kakashi said seriously.

Naruto nodded, took a sealing scroll from his pouch and unsealed a batch of premade seals. He placed them all around their team and then activated them.

"There is one thing you need to be aware of. Naruto, as planned we have decided that you will take the exams under your true name." Kakashi said and got a nod from Naruto.

"His true name? But you said he is an Uzumaki. I looked his clan up and it fit with what you told us about them." Sakura said confused.

"Uzumaki was my mother Kushina's maiden name. I got her name after she and my father died to protect me from my father's enemies until I was ready to deal with them. My true name is Naruto Namikaze; I am the son of Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage." Naruto explained.

Sakura looked absolutely shocked, Sasuke not so much.

"You suspected it, Sasuke?" Naruto asked interpreting his teammate's face correctly.

"Since after the Wave Country mission. While Kakashi sensei mentioned how many Yamanakas lost their lives thanks to Iwa hating the Yondaime and telling that thanks to your hair-colour you could become a target for the Iwa ninjas were faced, I was curious if there wasn't more to it. I took a good look at the picture of the Yondaime Hokage in the Hokage's office when we returned and there are many similarities between you two. For one your hair and your eye-colour, but also your affinities and your talent with sealing. Combine that with the interest the Yondaime's teacher Jiraiya and his student Kakashi Hatake show in your development, not to mention the Hokage himself, and it was a safe bet to say you were his hidden son or at least nephew." Sasuke pointed out.

"That information shouldn't be a secret for long, so I wanted to inform you early on to prepare you. There will be a huge outcry in the village as soon as the information spreads, which will be in a week when the exams start. All the jonin were sworn to secrecy about certain points including Naruto's identity until the Hokage releases them. Which will be when the participants for the final round are decided. The exams traditionally consist of three parts. I won't tell you what they are, that would be an unfair advantage. I will just say that you need to remember everything I taught you in the last six months.

"Additionally I want you to show what you have learned. No matter if you manage to get promoted, which I think is absolutely possible for all of you, after the exams you will be taking more missions without me as I will be taking over as Godaime Hokage after the finals." Kakashi said.

He and the Hokage had decided that Kakashi's students deserved to be informed about this before going into the exams so that they knew that Kakashi's reputation would be massively influenced by their performance in the exams.

"You're going to be the Godaime, sensei?" Sakura asked surprised and this time only Naruto wasn't surprised.

Sasuke was impressed that his sensei would become Hokage in a little over a month. Naruto only smiled, having known about the plan, even if the Sandaime and Kakashi hadn't known that he knew.

"Yes, I will. I am one of the strongest ninjas we have in the village and as the sannin don't want to become Hokage, well Tsunade Sama and Jiraiya Sama that is, I was chosen." Kakashi confirmed with an eye-smile.

"I'm sure you'll do a good job, Kakashi sensei." Naruto said smiling. "Dad would be proud of you."

"Thank you, Naruto." Kakashi said touched. "Alright, while you can't tell anybody that I am going to be Hokage yet, I will make sure that you will represent me accordingly. So we will go over all the important things for the exams. I have arranged for you to live together for the next week so that your teamwork will be at its best. Don't worry, you get separate rooms. While I know that you can work together well enough, I know that you aren't that close to each other. And I'm not crazy enough to force you to sleep in the same room if it isn't strictly necessary."

That was a massive relief for his students.

* * *

Over the next week Kakashi drilled his three students in taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu detection and dispelling, strategy, survival techniques and teamwork. By the end of the week they were completely prepared for anything they might have to do in the exams. They went home for the last night before the exams. Sakura had to bite her tongue to not tell her mother that her sensei was the next Hokage, but she had been strictly forbidden to do so. And on top she had realised that her mother's ideas of how a ninja should work were complete rubbish. While her mother was fully supportive about her plans to become the greatest medic nin since Tsunade, as she saw it as a much nobler kind of ninja than the brawlers as she called it, she still had it out for Naruto. Wouldn't she be surprised once the information that Naruto was the Yondaime Hokage's only son hit the village?

Naruto meanwhile stocked his two hip pouches with all the things he would need in the exams. Thanks to his sealing abilities his thigh pouches could hold double the number of shuriken and senbons respectively. Same was true for his hip pouches. With all his specializations he needed more supplies than fit into normal pouches. His new cloak would be introduced in the finals. He was sure that he would make it there. It would be really embarrassing if he didn't pass while having jonin level skills. And as far as he knew the first two parts were team tests. And as little as he liked his teammates, he knew they were reliable now.

Sasuke also prepared his equipment for the next day. He knew that a lot rode on his team's performance. To think that he had been trained by the future Godaime Hokage made him review his time on team seven. He had to admit that he was really glad that his sensei and his teammate Naruto had broken him out of his former funk. He had hindered himself with his behaviour and had let idiotic civilians fill his head with hot air. While he still wanted to find Itachi, now he wanted to question him about the massacre first. With him getting better at meditation techniques he had also remembered that Itachi had cried the night of the massacre and that didn't sit right with him. He would get strong enough to catch Itachi and force him to tell him the truth. If he had simply been an arsehole and a traitor he could still kill him after pumping him for all information he had.

* * *

Naruto walked through the village his last purchase safely stored in his hip pouch. He had bought a week's supply of energy bars at Jakonato's. It was better to have some nutritious food in reserve in case you couldn't hunt or cook safely. And the Forest of Death was merciless as he knew from pilfering the dead genin that had been in previous tests. When he walked back towards his home, he was passed by the Hokage's grandson Konohamaru and his two friends Moegi and Udon. He knew them briefly as he had met Konohamaru once when he had tried to 'defeat his grandfather to become Hokage'. Naïve, but Naruto could understand that the boy wanted to be seen for himself. What he didn't like was that the brat was spoiled to think that nobody would hurt him just because he was the Hokage's grandson.

Suddenly he heard a pained cry and decided to better look what was up. So close to the start of the chunin exams he didn't want to risk any problems because a brat couldn't keep his mouth shut and that cry had sounded like Konohamaru.

When he rounded the corner, he saw that he had been right. Konohamaru was held up by his shirt by a black-clad Suna ninja. Considering the bandaged bundle on his back and his attire Naruto suspected that he was a puppeteer, one of the famous abilities Suna taught to his ninjas. The blond girl with the four ponytails had a war fan on her back and probably used wind style jutsus with it. That could be dangerous if she was good at using it.

"That hurt you brat." The boy in black said.

"Let me down, don't you know who I am?" Konohamaru shouted.

"I don't care, but I think you need to learn a lesson in manners." The boy said.

"Kankuro let him down, we don't want problems." The girl said.

Naruto noticed that she was quite pretty. He guessed that she was a few years older than him.

"The brat is asking for it, Temari." The now identified Kankuro replied.

Naruto of course knew their names. Temari and Kankuro were children of the Yondaime Kazekage. That meant that Gaara, their youngest brother who was the jinchuriki of Shukaku, was probably also here. Interesting. He decided to get Konohamaru bailed out.

"Please let the brat down, we don't want to provoke an incident before the chunin exams start; right?" He spoke up addressing Kankuro.

The two Suna genin looked at him. Naruto noticed a small blush on Temari's face and he smiled winningly at her, intensifying the blush.

"I don't really know what happened, but he is only a child, so you shouldn't get worked up over whatever mishap he was involved in." Naruto said walking up to them calmly.

"The brat ran into me not looking where he went and then had the gall to demand that I apologized to him." Kankuro stated.

Naruto just shook his head.

"I see. I apologize for his bad manners and I will make sure to bring it up with his grandfather, the Sandaime Hokage. And you can be sure that I will make sure that you get punished for this, Konohamaru. You should be ashamed to make such a bad impression on the children of the Yondaime Kazekage. By the way, you can come out of the tree. I doubt you will get a good show now." Naruto called out.

The others looked up to the tree and saw a red-haired boy hanging upside down on a tree branch. He raised an eyebrow and then used a sand body flicker to appear next to the group.

"You are good." The boy commented. "Kankuro, let the boy go, we will leave this matter to Konoha to resolve. It's not worth our time to deal with snot nosed brats."

"I am not a brat." Konohamaru protested only to get bunked over the head by Naruto.

"You are a brat. Now apologize to Kankuro for running into him while not looking where you ran. Geez, the old man really needs to talk to Ebisu again about filling your head with nonsense. If you ever really want to become Hokage, you need to stop thinking you are the top of the world. Only hard work will bring you where you want to be." Naruto stated.

Konohamaru looked completely caught off guard that somebody really told him off for his behaviour.

"I would like to know your name. I am Gaara Sabaku." Gaara addressed Naruto. "You seem really well-informed."

"My name is Naruto Namikaze. I assume you are their younger brother, the third child of the Yondaime Kazekage." Naruto replied.

"Namikaze?" Temari gasped. "Like the Yondaime Hokage?"

"He was my father." Naruto confirmed. There was no need to keep his identity a secret anymore. It would come out tomorrow anyway.

"Are you taking the chunin exams as well?" Gaara wanted to know.

"Yes. My sensei nominated my team." Naruto confirmed.

"I look forward to facing you. If you are anywhere as good as your father was you will be a worthy opponent, Naruto." Gaara said.

"I look forward to seeing your strength too, Gaara. I will take my leave; I need to get the brat back to his grandfather. Kankuro, Temari, nice to meet you." Naruto gave both a nod and then turned around and gathered the children and went away.

* * *

**Okay, slightly altered for now, the more massive changes will come from next chapter on. Till next time.**


End file.
